Prenatal Affective Exchanges and Their Subsequent Effects in Postnatal Life

Abstract

This paper is the result of 23 years of haptotherapeutic clinical work with men, women, and children in difficulties and of pre- and postnatal haptonomic accompaniment of pregnancies, normal as well as pathological ones. After training as a pediatrician and several years of psychoanalysis and extensive work with my mother, Françoise Dolto (including attending her seminars), I discovered haptonomy in 1979. I committed myself to this practice, which seemed to promise many new possibilities for therapeutic fields, especially in relation to the prevention of problems in parent–child relationships. What this practice has actually brought has far surpassed my hopes.