Learning disabilities as related to a special form of mothering
Rubenstein, B.; Levitt, M.
International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 58(1): 45-55
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-7578 PMID: 838544 Document Number: 111717
TH Relationship between an early traumatic infant-mother relationship and cognitive difficulties was investigated. The group discussed were boys between the age of 8 and 16 yr who experienced serious difficulty in mastering routine educational tasks (reading, spelling and arithmetic) but who all possessed a high degree of intelligence. These patients viewed themselves as passive, helpless, guilty and retentive, regarding people in their environment contrariwise as active, sadistic, acquisitive and penetrating. Physical, adaptive behavior was inhibited because infantile experiences cruelly limited their acquisitive power. Taking in information was associated with the fear of penetration; giving up information was experienced as a loss of self.