Attachment is the emotional bond that develops between the infant and the mother; or the caregiver. The need to form an emotional bond with the mother is essential for the infant to survive and to feel secure.
Between the second and fifth [month]s of an infant's life, which Mahler calls the "normal symbiotic phase" the infant gradually becomes aware of need satisfaction stems from outside the self; the mother; and the need satisfying emotional relationship begins. The most important aspect of the normal symbiotic phase is the infant's capacity to make an emotional bond (Mahler and McDevitt, 1989). This is the basis of adult relationships.
In the first [year] of life, the infant's psychosocial task is to learn to trust. The basic trust feeling that emerges from the relation between the mother and the infant, becomes the basis of the relations that individual will form in the future. The attachment is a system that helps the bond between the infant and the caregiver strong, therefore helps protect the infant from the potential dangers of the environment, and provides them the necessary conditions to explore their environment. In this presentation, the mother-son symbiosis will be evaluated through the help of a Rorschach protocol. In the Rorschach test that was conducted, it was seen that the mother has a borderline personality pattern with narcissistic features and is in a very strong symbiotic relationship, whereas the son displays phobic features.