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From anaclitic Depression to “Toughness” in an infant male Twin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Justin D. Call
Justin D. Call*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, U. C. L. A., School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif. (U.S.A.)

Summary

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The present report is of an infant male twin (Don) who developed a depressive illness with onset at 8½ months of age. At 22 months of age, Don's depressive expression and attitude gave way to an expression of toughness which was rewarded by the mother's increased attention to him when he would show his « though look ». Such a transformation of affect in Don is understood as partly adaptational (object capturing), partly defensive (denial of object loss), and partly characterological (counter-phobic attitudes developed). The twin sister, Donna, toward whom the mother was much closer, was spared such an illness. The presence of depression in Don and the lack of it in Donna is understood on the basis of interrelated experiential and constitutional (genetic and maturational) factors in development.

The study is reported in order to illustrate the use of twins in the exploration of differences, both constitutional and environmental, which surround development in boys and girls, while the parents's stage of development remains constant.

Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , April 1963 , pp. 134 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1963

References

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