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wards us” (2014 [1521], 119, 120, 143). This es- mary narcissism” (Winnico�, 1965), is an ini�al
sen�al, rela�onal dynamic of “faith in” sup- state of learning how to survive through abso-
ports the subsequent “faith for” the object of lute dependence upon the one who will make
our hopes and requests. Satan aimed his a�ack this possible. From the moment of birth, the in-
at the “basic trust (1) ” that Adam and Eve held fant ins�nc�vely gravitates to its primary nur-
for God; he impugned the very character of a turer—the mother. The baby is o�en laid on
trustworthy God whose goodwill had been ab- the mother’s chest a�er birth, and it wrestles
undantly shared with Adam and Eve. Through itself upwards towards the source of life, the
this decep�on, the direct basis of true faith was breast, the source of mother’s soothing elixir of
sha�ered. colostrum and soon to be milk.
The fall of Adam and Eve has cast its shadow According to object rela�ons theorists (2), the-
upon all genera�ons that followed. Into our re are two primary func�ons of the mother in
consulta�on offices enter pa�ents whose sense these early days: the environment-mother, and
of basic trust was decimated early in their lives the object-mother (Winnico�, 1965). The “en-
through neglect, abuse, or trauma. O�en, this vironment- mother” sees to the physical needs
incapacity to trust distorts their view of God of the infant, ensures its comfort, sa�ety, and
whom they experience as the reflec�on of their safety. Concurrently the “object-mother” provi-
failed, internalized, parental imagoes. As psy- des the growing emo�onal a�unement that is
choanaly�c author, Anthony Vergote has aptly so necessary to the infant needs. While the en-
observed, “God and the psyche look at each vironment-mother may offer the breast, the
other as if they were mirror reflec�ons of each object- mother is empathically alert to the spe-
other” (1990, p. 86). cific “feed me” cry, as she gazes lovingly at her
infant while it nurses. This gaze is the beginning
Our privilege in the rela�onal matrix with each of the infant’s recogni�on of the mother, and
pa�ent is to be with them in their deficits of ba- the mother of her infant. A�unement and reco-
sic trust. Through a shi� in the pa�ent’s internal gni�on are early components of the infant/ma-
capacity to trust can come a renewed image of ternal engagement.
God, and through this a capacity for faith.
Basic Trust
In what follows, we will review how trust and The development from infancy through adult-
by extension, faith, develops in the growing in- hood was catalogued by Erik Erickson. He hypo-
fant. Then, we will examine how the process thesized that the early ministra�ons of a mo-
that occurs during psychotherapy, a poten�al ther contribute to the development of the ex-
for renewed capacity to trust, can open a door perience of the infant’s “basic trust,” upon
for growth in faith, a faith that can assert, “I which later developmental achievements can
know Whom I have believed in.” We will also il- be built. He writes: “I have already men�oned
lustrate each movement in the therapeu�c pro- the importance for basic trust [emphasis ad-
cess with a clinical vigne�e. ded] of the early feeding situa�on of the hu-
man infant, including that mee�ng of eye to
eye which, it is increasingly clear, is an import-
Faith through an “other” ant source of the sense of I—and of a pri-
mal We.” (Erikson, 1996).
In Infancy
Needs Embedded in the “other” of the caregiving mo-
The infant comes into being with its own needs ther is her recogni�on and care that the infant
central in its experience and survival. It needs learns is a�uned to its specific needs, and co-
to eat; it needs to drink. It comes to understand mes to trust as reliable and good. This basic
that fulness in the belly means it needs to relie- trust in the mother will later be the basis of a
ve itself. This period, o�en referred to as “pri- capacity for faith in others.
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