Génuit, Philippe <br/><br/>
The Erinyes of Four Mothers: Subjective and Casual Clinical Observation of Maternal Infanticides 

 -  2013.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> In this article, infanticide is illustrated through four clinical cases in the form of a story. The story concerns psychotherapy sessions for women who have been jailed for killing their newborns. This story considers the criminal deed in the context of the mother’s personal history in a transference situation, where the therapist emerges. The contingent analysis of the story outlines the sociohistorical fabric around the generic and criminal feminine; a fabric without which the meaning and the arbitrariness of the infanticide would be cancelled. While we can apply an ad-hoc “psychotization” of the maternal infanticidal act, the four clinical examples show a psychopathological heterogeneity, where neurosis competes with psychosis. As for the Erinyes, the relentless hatred, revenge, and reversal ( perversio) attack the filial relationship, but paradoxically protect the criminal mother from a mental collapse.