The problem of hospitalism in the River Plate medicine and the role of psi knowledge in the subjectivation of motherhood and childhood (1933-1965)

Objective: This article aims at contribute to the historical investigation of the relationship between psychological knowledge and the River Plate’s childhood medicine, focusing on hospitalism, which refers to the psychophysical deterioration as a result of the child stay in hospitals or upbringing institutions. The analysis of this problem illuminate certain changes in the Pediatric conception of child development, maternity and rearing that can be seen during the 60’s. Content: The first decades of the period under study show that in cases of hospitalism the aim of medical interventions was mainly to keep the child alive. The problems during the rearing in institutional contexts promoted a revaluation of the family upbringing and the central role of the mother, biologically tied to her child. John Bowlby’s findings circulation led to a reformulation of the problem of the hospitalism and child development. The study of the emotional bonding between mother and child became important for child’s mental health and social adaptation. Conclusions: these ideas were part of a previous network of medical concepts and valuations about child, motherhood and rearing. The local reception of Bowlby’s ideas gave support to the traditional image of mother and reinforced the social division of roles according to gender by attributing to women the category of “psychic organizer” of the child.