need to learn a word

I'm writing my essay (there's actual words on a page now) and I find myself wanting to refer to something I possibly read in a self help book approximately fifteen to twenty years ago. Which isn't a terrbily helpful reference. Also the book may have been by John Cleese, which is not impressive for a psych ref.

The idea I'm looking for is that a child sees its mother as a particularly busy and mobile limb, doesn't have a solid idea of self and other, and sees everything that gets done according to its will as something it did.

Google isn't helpful if you don't know the words for things. Is the idea familiar? Is it rubbish? It could be rubbish. I'm trying to write an essay about a stream of consciousness piece that tries to simulate the thought processes of a crazy person, and I rather fear the essay will do likewise.