PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “OEDIPUS COMPLEX”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

The Oedipus complex revisited: Oedipus abandoned, Oedipus adopted.

The author considers that the Oedipus of Sophocles' drama, who kills his biological father and marries his biological mother, is an illustration of the failure to work through the complex named after him. She draws attention to the contrast between the obscurity that surrounds the hero's adoptive parents and the notoriety of their biological counterparts arguing that the former are equally important in the universal oedipal fantasy. In her view the fact that Oedipus has two sets of parents--abandoning and adopting respectively--is significant in that the resulting dichotomisation of the parental imago enables him seemingly to avoid a conflict of ambivalence in relation to a single object. The author further contends that the plague of Thebes represents the symptomatic return of repressed or disavowed aggression. Three clinical examples reveal the parental imago's division to be an unconscious defence against oedipal anxieties and the sense of solitude vis-à-vis the intimacy of the parental couple. The working through of the Oedipus complex is stated to require the synthesis of love and hate and of the abandoning and adoptive aspects of the parents whereby the formerly sadistic superego becomes protective. The author also argues that a useful distinction can be made between splitting and dichotomisation.

Adoption↗
PubMed1988

From the archaic matrix of the oedipus complex to the fully developed oedipus complex. Theoretical perspective in relation to clinical experience and technique.

The opposition between the "archaic matrix of the oedipus complex" and the fully developed oedipus complex leads the author to compare two distinct types of patients: those who do not conform to the neurotic model (patients who probably witnessed and were the victims of disintegration of the family and the effacement of the father's image) and the neurotic patient for whom Freud's discovery was intended. The consequences of differences of organization specific to each type of patient are numerous. This study restricts itself to examining the different mode of interpretation in each case, although the choice of this does not depend solely upon the analyst, since interpretation is the product of the encounter between patient and analyst.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Effects of family constellation and dynamics on the form of the Oedipus complex.

The Oedipus complex take its particular form from a variety of sources--biological and environmental. This paper focuses on the role of the family constellation in imparting a specific form to this schemata, here described as a double Oedipus complex. Some of the relevant psychoanalytic literature is reviewed. It is suggested that such a configuration of the Oedipus complex may not in itself lead to a pathologic outcome. In the case history presented, specific characteristics of the patient's family are presumed to have been pathogenetic leading to the inadequate resolution of his Oedipus complex. Relevant aspects of the analytic process are discussed, in particular, the vicissitudes of the transferences. It is concluded that the schemata of the Oedipus complex is significantly modified by external circumstances, in this case by a special family constellation and its dynamics.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The emergence of oedipal centrality comments on Michael Feldman's paper 'Common ground: the centrality of the Oedipus complex.

The Oedipus complex is indeed a central organizing focus of human development. Given the opportunity to review psychoanalytic work illustrative of how this concept influences clinical theory and technique, patches of common ground and of significant differences are described. The patient discussed was in the termination phase of a very long analysis, resulting in a concentration and telescoping of the three weeks of reported material from six months prior to termination. This facilitated the elucidation of similarities and differences in viewing and handling manifestations of resistance, transference and countertransference. In particular, differences in conceptualization of the Oedipus complex were addressed, especially the constraints imposed on the analyst's thinking and technique by an obligatory perception that all material represented oedipal themes. In an alternative view, a pre-oedipal, dyadic developmental foundation provides a framework for the elaboration and evolution of oedipal, triadic complexities as a developmental achievement. This enables a reconsideration of transference manifestations of conflictual object relations in terms of distinctions between dyadic, pre-oedipal and triadic, oedipal themes, thus enhancing the analyst's interpretive relevance.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1984

The complete oedipus complex.

The 'Complete Oedipus Complex' is shown to be a critical period in Spitz' sense of convergence of drive maturation with ego development. It is proposed that competence to venture into the heart of the oedipal conflict is acquired in the practising subphase of the separation-individuation process where traits such as venture-someness, courage, initiative and the like become part of the self representations. Also proposed is that tension between drive need and object relations need at the anal phase results in compromise that establishes a pattern for taming the drive because of object relations considerations. The so-called negative oedipal position is seen as a regression to a pre-oedipal level of object need that is tinged with sexual wishes carried back from the oedipal position. Finally, the waning of the Oedipus complex is regarded as another developmental thrust terminating in identification with and love for the parent of the same sex, with transfer of functions of the object representations to the self representations, which results in diminution of primary object need and frees the individual to make new libidinal connexions at adult levels of object need.

Ego↗
PubMed1982

The origins and development of the Oedipus complex.

The universality of the Oedipus complex indicates that the oedipal situation is at the heart of the mental life of man. Usually, one finds oneself with two opposing situations, in reading the psychoanalytic literature published in the French-speaking countries and that of the English-speaking countries. Some people accuse psychoanalysts of 'oedipalization' of the study of the mental life and the behaviour of man. Others, such as the followers of Melanie Klein, consider the problem of relations with internal objects is there from the first year of life and imply a division between good and bad objects, followed by a split that dominates the mental life of man throughout his life. After several anthropological references, I have tried to study how clinical themes permit me to distinguish the approach to the Oedipus complex from the triangulation of object relations, and how the Oedipus complex today appears to find an outlet in the destiny and the vicissitudes of narcissism.

Cultural Characteristics↗
PubMed1982

The formation and shaping of the Oedipus complex: clinical observations and assumptions.

Freud maintained that the Oedipus complex as a development landmark could be conceptualized as taking place only at the time of the phallic phase. Freud's theory is that it is the culmination of a very long process whose primary result, in developmental terms, was that the ego now had to act as an organizing and unifying agent of all of one's past, while at the same time adding a new agency of the mind which he called the superego. With the resolution of the Oedipus complex, infantile sexuality would begin to be left behind. Since Freud, there have been a number of developments and controversies related to the Oedipus complex. The confusion which has arisen is that some of us use the insights we have gained about pre-oedipal life as themselves holding the answers to many of the psychopathologies we meet with clinically. My own view is that unless these insights about pre-oedipal life become part of a development framework, culminating in the Oedipus complex and, through its resolution, in the internalization of the superego, then we miss something which is fundamental in our understanding and in our efforts to undo psychopathology. For Freud, the relationship between sexuality and the Oedipus complex was inseparable. The assumption I put forward about the Oedipus complex is that the image of one's own body which has been organized by the end of the phallic-oedipal period determines the form of the oedipal resolution, and remains central to one's later sexual life and psychopathology. If, in our clinical work, we avoid the meaning of genital sexuality and the meaning of the sexual body image, but interpret mainly those aspects of the patient's life which are pre-oedipal (and therefore non-incestuous), then we lose the chance of creating the possibility of the patient having an active relationship to his sexual/genital body, and the patient loses the chance of ever feeling himself to be the owner of his own sexuality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

The oedipus complex. A critical re-examination.

The Oedipus complex no longer holds the crucial role in psychodynamics attributed to it by Freud. Attempts to distinguish between oedipal and pre-oedipal disturbances are brought into question, and it is suggested that the complex reflects many non-psychosexual issues, particularly separation-individuation. Ten views of the Oedipus complex are critically reviewed.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1991

Is the Oedipus complex still the cornerstone of psychoanalysis? Three obstacles to answering the question.

Current controversies about the centrality of the Oedipus complex in psychoanalysis are difficult to resolve unless we address three obstacles in the way of rational examination. The first is that the Oedipus complex, Freud's "shibboleth" of psychoanalysis, is politically controversial. Second is the great difficulty in agreeing upon the definition and boundaries of the Oedipus complex, especially the necessary complexities introduced with the negative Oedipus complex, female sexuality, the nature of the preoedipal, and counteroedipal fantasies and actions. The third obstacle involves basic questions of psychoanalytic epistemology: our criteria for evidence to prove or disprove any particular proposition. I conclude that the awareness of these difficulties signifies a certain maturation in our thinking and that the complexity introduced by these obstacles can in time provide the groundwork for a set of formulations that is richer and closer to the complexities and ambiguities of the clinical situation.

Ego↗
PubMed2004

Elements of the Oedipus complex: a Kleinian account.

The author discusses and illustrates the place in current Kleinian practice of the analysis of the Oedipus complex. He outlines the development of the concept of the Oedipus complex by Freud and by Klein and later writers in the Kleinian tradition. Because the child's exclusion from his parents' sexual relationship represents such a fundamental aspect of reality for the child, analysis of the patient's responses to the oedipal situation constitutes the central task of analysis. Despite the Oedipus complex being in this way central, it is sometimes hard to discern because what is most visible are the patient's defensive responses to the oedipal situation. The emergence of meaning in analysis is often understood unconsciously as the product of the parental intercourse, represented by the work of the patient with the analyst, or of the analyst's or the patient's mind. The analysis of the patient's characteristic reactions to moments of meaningfulness in analysis is therefore an especially fruitful focus for the analysis of the Oedipus complex. The author illustrates these ideas by three clinical examples, from a 3 1/2-year-old child, a borderline psychotic patient and a more neurotic patient.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

On the girl's entry into the Oedipus complex.

Detailed child observational study reveals variable pathways by which the girl enters her Oedipus complex. The data of three normal girls are briefly detailed to demonstrate the path each took. The data reported do not support the generalizability of the 1925 postulate that the girl enters her Oedipus complex by way of her castration complex. It is hypothesized that the girl, as well as the boy, enters the Oedipus complex--given a favorable-enough "expectable environment"--from about two and a half years of age on, compelled by a psychobiologically determined gender-related change in her libido and inherited ego dispositions.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1990

[The "daughterly" existence. Unanswered questions about the female Oedipus complex].

The author investigates the structural difficulties currently involved in arriving at a conclusive definition of the female Oedipus complex. She shows how Freud's theory of the female Oedipus complex, originally a theory of non-individuation, now figures as a theory of individuation, with old, partriarchally oriented constructs and modern ideas of emancipation having entered into complex combinations that can sometimes be disentangled only with difficulty. Finally, three aspects of the female Oedipus complex are examined: 1. its importance in the acquisition of female sexual identity, 2. its function as a locus for finding the heterosexual object, and 3. its role as a locus for the resolution or fixation of the "daughterly" existence.

Female↗
PubMed1995

Biology and the oedipus complex.

Recent observations in the behavioral and neurosciences have raised questions about the ubiquity of the oedipus complex as well as about its significance for psychological development. The authors argue that the construct Freud called the oedipus complex in males is best examined in its component parts. One component--the incestuous wish--does not occur in all individuals. Another component--the boy's urge to engage competitively with other male figures, including the father--does appear to be biologically based in testosterone's effect on the brain and to be manifested in childhood rough and tumble play behavior. It is proposed that reexamination of the oedipus complex in light of recent findings about the brain and behavior is indicated and that play, in particular, can usefully be considered as a separate developmental line.

Aggression↗
PubMed2000

The Adam and Eve story as exemplar of an early-life variant of the oedipus complex.

The Adam and Eve story is construed as having an organizing function that facilitates the analytic understanding of certain patients. In this interpretation, the story epitomizes a psychodynamic in which progressive growth, with separation and individuation, of the young is experienced as perilous--not only to them, but also correspondingly to their procreators. In the myth, the increasing psychic and physical maturation of Adam and Eve produced a crisis. Not only was divine authority flouted, but also apprehensions were aroused that God might be humbled or diminished. This threatened him, evoking his wrath and leading to the punishment by abandonment of his youthful wards. It is suggested that the story depicts an emotional complex of widespread application and is an archaic version of the oedipus complex, continuous with the oedipus complex proper, but from an earlier stage of development. This archaic complex is delineated with clinical vignettes, and a clinical explication of its various components is provided. Clinical management is considered, particularly with reference to the challenge that a closed-system perspective (Fairbairn 1958) presents to a patient's development.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The threshold of the male Oedipus complex.

The transition into the male Oedipus complex is complicated by the fact that there is no "change of object" as in female development. For the boy, the mother is both the object of preoedipal attachment to an omnipotent internal object and of oedipal desire for an external whole object. The psychological-interpersonal movement into triangulated oedipal object relations is mediated by the elaboration of mature forms of primal scene fantasies in conjunction with the development of a "transitional oedipal relationship" to the mother.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

The teaching of the Oedipus complex: on making Freud meaningful to university students by unveiling his essential ideas on the human condition.

The author describes an approach that she has developed to the teaching of Freud's Oedipus complex to university psychology students (both graduates and undergraduates). The approach is based on the notion that Freud's theories become meaningful to students when they can find in them important and interesting statements regarding the human condition, and when they see that they can use these statements to gain a more in-depth understanding of seemingly simple concrete life circumstances and events. In the course of this description the author focuses on two basic statements that are embedded within Freud's comments on the male Oedipus complex. These statements go beyond simple portrayals of the Oedipus complex as founded on castration anxiety and pertain to love and fear and how we grow in our attempts to deal with their inherently conflictual nature. This approach entails a shift away from more schematic and distant forms of teaching the Oedipus complex as well as other aspects of the psychoanalytic theory that are common and problematic in universities today.

Curriculum↗