Abstract
This paper relates the case of a twenty-year-old woman who was hospitalized after an acute psychotic reaction suddenly appeared in the immediate postpartum period of her first pregnancy. Her baby daughter died when nine days old; asphyxiation by talcum powder sprinkled by the mother during a short period of confusion or dissociative reactions.
To facilitate a better dynamic approach the main events surrounding the infanticide are reported in detail. Among the hypotheses mentioned in the introduction, the double identification suggested by Arieti seems the most appropriate: He assumed that the new mother must have a double identification; first with her child, to develop a nurturing orientation and second, with her mother to make her feel capable of nurturing.
In this study the identification is with the agressive mother rather than with the nurturing one and there is no adequate identification with the baby.
This paper discusses a specific type of infanticide; the ‘acutely psychotic filicide' committed under the influence of delirium.