Therapeutic Holding

Therapeutic Holding: The concept of holding was first introduced by a British paediatrician and psycho-analyst called Donald Winnicott. In his eyes holding is based on the physical relation between a mother and her child. A child does, or doesn’t, feel safe in its mother’s arms. The arms are presumed to be a prolonging of the developing foetus held in the uterus. Winnicott has enlarged holding to the total emotional and physical environment created by the mother, and the mother’s capacity to hold the child in her thoughts and react intuitively on the needs of her child.

By doing this, the mother expresses her love, concern, acceptance and interest in the child. Based on the safety the child experiences in being held by the mother or a nursing environment, the child starts to see itself different from his mother and discovers itself and the world. The child also knows that the mother will be there for him if he needs it, and he learns not to have constant contact with the mother. This enables the child to experience even more.

Winnicott finds the development of a “true” or “false self” in the child really important. This seems to be the result of the child constantly having to accomplish the mother’s needs and just recognising and expressing parts of himself that are accepted by the mother. The essence of holding is not the material but the emotional environment. It is the reliability of our presence and our recognition of who the person is and what he feels. Via communication with our clients and through trials to put their experiences, feelings and views as to who they are in relation to us in words, they feel held.