Maternal depression and co-identification mother-baby process. The archaic itself in the primordial encounter

Postnatal maternal depression, particularly heterogeneous in its expression, its form and risk factors concerns 10 to 20% of women. From a detailed clinical case, the authors question the origin of the postnatal depression and show the importance of the early mechanisms of co-identification during the postpartum. Sure enough, for a successful encounter with her baby, the mother must not only identify with the baby she herself was once but also to what she had meant for her own mother as a baby. Now this process of co-identification may hamper access to maternity, a step that always condenses several psychological problems and reactualize the infantile past. This article shows a mother in the context of a singular identification to her own mother and the reactivation of her early childhood actual experience especially as a baby. The treatment and the follow-up of this mother allowed the resolution of the depressive symptomatology of the patient and the reunion with her child. As the postnatal phase is very sensitive to psychic reorganization but also to societal and family modifications or changes, all actions in favor of the understanding of the processes involved in becoming a parent must be implemented for effective preventive actions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.