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Orbiting Planet Gemma: The Trajectory of a Two‐Year Infant Observation
Author(s) -
Arthur Sally
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
british journal of psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1752-0118
pISSN - 0265-9883
DOI - 10.1111/bjp.12500
Subject(s) - gemma , psychology , feeling , psychoanalysis , developmental psychology , social psychology , biology , botany
This paper describes the author's reflections on an infant observation which took place at baby Gemma's home for an hour a week over two years. It describes the phenomenological experience of the weekly observation and the observer's progressive attempt to ‘feel into’ Gemma's developing mind. The author tracks Gemma's journey from her birth to the age of 2 years and witnesses the gradual emergence of a unique separate self. The paper attempts to untangle which feelings belong to the writer, which to Gemma and which to her mother, and it acknowledges ‘black holes’ of unknowable aspects. The astronomical headings reflect the family's interest in space exploration and also the writer's appreciation of the numinous quality of a close encounter with an infant.