Читать книгу The Handbook of Solitude - Группа авторов - Страница 67

Based on several Freudian views, among which are the importance of absence, hallucinatory wish fulfillment (discussed in previous sections), and the notion of the negative, André Green (1986) used the term negative hallucination to describe a normal developmental phenomenon taking place in the early mother–child relationship. The inevitable separation from the mother leaves the infant physically alone. The relationship with her will be preserved only if the increase of tension or excitation caused by her absence is negativized by the infant. This means that the empty and silent space between the mother and the child will be occupied by the negative hallucination of the mother, which consists of primitive (i.e., hallucinatory or satisfying in fantasy) representations of the mother, and is defined by Green (1999, p. 276) as “a representation of the absence of representation.” The mother’s negative presence is transformed into a framing structure for the ego, enabling the child to wait and to tolerate absence as well as the related depressive affect. The framing structure “holds” the mind (in the Winnicottian sense) and constitutes the matrix of future (erotic and aggressive) investments.

Reflecting on Green’s views, I argue that this desirable outcome seems to have three developmental antecedents: (i) separation from the mother is not too prolonged, in order to avoid her effacement or fading away in the mind of the infant; (ii) the mother is available, reliable, and warm, in order to facilitate the emergence of the primitive representations and to ensure that the infant experiences holding and containment; and (iii) the mother is not an all‐present and intrusive figure, but is able to withdraw discretely leaving the infant alone for a reasonable amount of time, so that her perception be replaced by her representation. Negative hallucination is the child’s own creation, which means that his/her psychic space is expanded and gradually populated by representations. Such a rich internal life seems to be the necessary prerequisite for high‐quality aloneness experiences. However, this is not an easy task; the infant has to make much effort to address the issue of the mother’s absence and to deal with his/her aloneness, in other words, to engage in the work of the negative (Green, 1999), and in this work the mother plays a decisive role.

In general, the notion of the negative sheds a different light on the understanding of the origins of beneficial solitude because it shifts our attention from the mother’s presence (as attachment theory postulates; see Mikulincer, Shaver, & Inbal Gal, Chapter 3) to the mother’s absence. This absence, which entails the infant’s aloneness, is a crucial early experience; absence is regarded as negative presence, full of creative fantasies that enhance the inner world of the infant and stir his/her representational activity, therefore expanding his/her capacity to tolerate and enjoy solitude as well as to be patient until the mother returns. This occurs with one condition: the mother needs to alternate between presence and absence with a pace analogous to the infant’s ability to deal with aloneness. Otherwise, her image in the mind of the infant is effaced and the infant’s aloneness becomes emptiness, a psychic hole that persists in later years and is likely to become the root of severe (mainly narcissistic and borderline) psychopathology.