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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.
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.
The authors propose that the Oedipus complex has a strong biological basis that is evident in observations of human prehistoric and nonhuman primate behavior. The groundwork for the oedipal phase is the peaking of human infantile sexuality at age five or six-a vestige of an earlier biological timetable. Other contributing factors include the high level of helplessness of human infants, the resulting high attachment needs, and the prolongation of development phases. Unsuccessful resolution of the oedipal phase may result when the mother's dominant status is lowered. The authors suggest that an understanding of the relationship between sex and rank and an wareness of ethological findings can broaden psychodynamic formulations and enrich the psychoanalytic therapy of sexual problems.
After investigating as much literature as I could on the Oedipus Complex or whatever name is interspersed, such as sex-role differentiation, identification, etc. the following conclusions were significant. Possible disturbance in sex-role identification, child develops avoidance systems and rejects parents, homosexuality, emotional maladjustment, shyness, resentfulness, dependency, harder to train, not "manly enough", apprehension, immaturity, compensatory masculinity, anti-social behaviour such as truancy, damaging or destroying private or public property, having premarital and extra matital sex relations and theft of property. Father's presence then, is of the utmost importance in the rearing of their children, particularly sons. They are necessary in the sharing with mothers of all phases of child.
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The oedipus complex is presented as a universal, developmentally determined mental organization that incorporates pregenital factors in a new hierarchic structure. Psychoanalysis with adults who have a variety of disorders, including severe character pathology, demonstrates the role of the oedipus complex and its variants as a dominant theme in these disorders. Recent trends in psychoanalytic theory are reviewed to facilitate our understanding of the newer metapsychological formulations that tend to de-emphasize oedipal constellations. Specific issues of changing emphasis in drive theory, ego organization, developmental levels of anxiety, and the separation-individuation process are considered.
The concept of truth in Freud's Metapsychology is a modern idea: a subject-related and pragmatic modification of the traditional concept of correspondence. But more important is the proof of a new implicit understanding of truth which becomes clearer in reation to the archaic conception of truth (alétheia) in the Oedipus tragedy. Freud finds in this drama not only the Oedipus complex, but also the tragic process of disclosure represented in the tyrant's struggle to uncover the reality (being) behind appearances which exhibits a certain similarity to the progress of psychoanalytic therapy.
Man searches continuously for the time when he was his own ideal--a time that is coincident with primary fusion with the mother. The fantasy of this fusion underlies the incest wish. Because of his helplessness, the child must postpone the realization of his incest wish and project it forward into the future. However, if the subject chooses the pathway of the oedipus complex and identification with the father to realize his incestuous fantasy, circumstance may lead him to circumvent the oedipal shpere and, through the mechanisms of regression, return to the mother of primary fusion. As in Aesop's adage, the ego ideal is at the source of the best and the worst of things.
The author reports on her experience collected over a period of almost three years with psychoanalytic groups in an open ward of the Psychiatric (Land Government-financed) Hospital at Düren. The special feature of this study is that the groups remained together for a short period only (10-12 sessions), so that it was necessary to limit the subjects covered. The problems which came up in these groups were partly due to the specific character of groups made up of in-patients, and partly due to the structure of such short-lived groups. An attempt was made to take advantage of the opportunity of the dual function of the head of an in-patient group, namely, to be the object of reference and transference for the small group and a member of the team for the entire ward, to offer a chance to the group members of focusing conflicts based on the Oedipus complex. In this connection, it was found to be very useful to enlist the help of the nurse or male nurse as co-leader of the group. Patients with a subsiding psychosis derived the greatest benefit from participating in such groups, whereas in the case of patients suffering from depression, participation in such a short-lived group should be discouraged.
The suicide of Kawabata Yasunari has been studied in terms of loneliness, aestheticism, postwar Japan's mass democracy, and ill health and old age. This paper places focus on the Oedipus complex in relation to Kawabata's concepts of beauty, life, and death. This analysis was supported by the psychosocial data which were provided by Jiko no Tenmatsu (An Account of the Incident) by Usui Yoshimi. The book is based on the story told by a maid of Kawabata, who is believed to have played an important role in his suicide. Although it is a novel, Usui claims that he followed events as told by the reporter as closely as possible.
A discussion of "Oedipus Was Not the Son of Laius and Jocasta" by Angel Garma, M.D. The thesis that Oedipus was not the son of the Theban royal pair but his Corinthian "foster parents" raises questions as to which Oedipus is under discussion--one of several different "historical" and legendary accounts, the hero of the plays of Sophocles, or the synthesized "Oedipuses" of millions of individual and ethnic fantasies. Oedipuses, in whom the particular variant described by Dr. Garma can be discerned, certainly abound and should be included among the many possibilities to be considered.
In 1932, Kosawa visited Freud at 19 Berggasse, and submitted to him a paper entitled: 'Two kinds of guilt feelings, the Ajase complex. In his paper, Kosawa expounded his theory of the Ajase complex, rooted in Buddhist thought. He discussed the psychological peculiarity of the Japanese as evidenced by the acceptance of oral dependency toward the mother, the repression of the resentment at the mother and 'guilt feeling over being forgiven' and a need to make restitution for harboring this evil intent. This type of guilt feeling is quite different from the guilt feeling as a fear of punishment which Freud embodied in his theory of the Oedipus complex.
Psychoanalytic advances have led to refinement and reformulation of early models of female personality development. Masochism was taken as a point of departure for a study of the psychology of women and earlier hypotheses of a masochistic and inferior female psychic structure. Masochism is a residue of unresolved infantile conflict and is neither essentially feminine nor a valuable component of mature female function and character. Though the female might be more predisposed to masochism, there is no evidence of particular female pleasure in pain. It is important to distinguish between masochistic suffering as a goal in itself, and tolerance for a discomfort or deprivation in the service of the ego or ego ideal. Initial hypotheses of a diminished female libido, ego tendencies toward arrest and rigidity, relative inability to sublimate, and a deficient superego are incomplete and obsolete theoretical propositions. The female ego and superego are different from but not inferior to the male. Female development cannot be described in a simple reductionism and overgeneralization. Femininity cannot be predominantly derived from a primary masculinity, disappointed maleness, masochistic resignation to fantasied inferiority, or compensation for fantasied castration and narcissistic injury. Castration reactions and penis envy contribute to feminine character, but penis envy is not the major determinant of femininity. Penis envy variously impedes and fosters femininity but penis envy is more closely related to the girl's bisexual masculinity. The female Oedipus complex is central to feminine development, but has significant normative roots in primary and positive feminine identifications and individuation. Contemporary contributions to the psychology of women have emphasized concepts of gender and sexual identity, body image and self-representation, psychosexual response and empathic motherliness, etc. The female superego includes an ego ideal with feminine ideals and values and regulates feminine interests. The maternal ego ideal consolidates overdetermined maternal attitudes, guides the formation and integration of maternal attitudes, and directs the developmental achievement of "the ordinary devoted mother." Conflicts between the maternal ego ideal and infanticidal impulses are ubiquitous and clinically significant. Current theoretical amendments conceptualize mature female autonomy, pride, and self-esteem. Female creativity may be exemplified in many and new forms in addition to motherhood. The capacity to sublimate and to foster sublimation in children is a prerequisite for normal motherhood. Femininity evolves under the influence of parents and culture, with unique developmental challenges and transformations, and a universal psychobiological core linked to functions and roles that should be neither idealized nor devalued.
Guntrip's paper is an account of his ananlytic experience, first with Fairbairn and then with Winnicott. Although attempting to be objective, he cannot disguise the fact that he is frustrated and dissatisfied. He raises this question: "How complete a result does psychoanalytic therapy achieve?" The question Guntrip is, in effect, asking himself, is: "What went wrong?" We suggest the following points: The failure of both analysts to recognize a very specific form of resistance and to deal with an unusual transference situation. Fiarbairn's insistence on giving oedipal interpretation to a patient who, as Winnicott recognized, did not have an oedipus complex. The failure of both analysts to recognize Guntrip's infantile megalomania; to expose his insistence that the blame for his neurosis must be attached to a "totally" bad mother; and the failure to recognize the intensity of his sibling rivalry. Psychoanalytic therapy is not merely "correct" interpretation and "correct" technique. It involves the interaction of two human beings. The countertransference of Fairbain and Winnicott prevented their perceiving and dealing with the essential problem of this exceptionally gifted patient.
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The authors examine several problems arising from the need to assess the psychotherapeutic processes and their effects, and the difficulties for finding valuable criteria to carry out the assessments. They propose a method centered on evaluation the changes that undergoes the central conflict: [Edipus complex, by means of several psychological tests to be taken at regular intervals during the course of psychotherapy. The tests are: a) House-Tree-Person; b) Wechsler; c) Bender; d) Rohrshach; e) Phillipson. The central thesis is that focal oedipical conflicts envolve necessarily together with defensive systems, objectal inner world, identifications, global structures of the ego, etecetera. That means the focal conflict can be used as an indicator to assess the state, evolution and functionning for the whole psychic apparatus. In support of those theses, several clinical cases are presented, together with some fragments of Phillipson test for each of them. The general conclusions stress the validity of the proposed method.