Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Oedipus Complex”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

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

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Transference: erotised, erotic, loving, affectionate.

Within a set of phenomena traditionally problematic for psychoanalysis, four types of erotic transference are outlined with a description of their dynamic genesis and related case histories (transference and countertransference developments, fundamental treatment procedures): erotised, erotic, loving, and affectionate transference. The first type is based mostly on psychotic modalities, the second on neurotic modalities. Both the loving and the affectionate transference, on the other hand, turn out to be clinical forms corresponding to a normal substantially same development, different from each other by virtue of a diverse level of maturation in the Oedipus complex: they often provoke--in analysts--a defensive stiffening which is harmful and--from the theoretical point of view--not above reproach. The work is particularly focused on the analytic evolution of a female patient who develops an amorous transference in which the defensive aspects prove to be less important than the potentially evolutionary ones. The treatment has been based--in particular--on the analytic utilisation of this transference. The last part of the contribution is devoted to the analysts' 'guarantee factors', which permit them to work in psychoanalysis with the 'highly explosive forces' of these transference configurations, maintaining a useful, rigorous, sensitive and sufficiently creative framework.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Masochism, the ego ideal, and the psychology of women.

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.

Ego↗
PubMed1993

[The vicissitudes of the therapeutic alliance or going from childhood to adolescence during psychotherapy].

By tracking the modifications of the therapeutic alliance between a pre-adolescent boy and his therapist, the author attempts 1/to describe the differences in terms of techniques and goals between low frequency session therapies and intensive therapies, and 2/to outline some of the characteristics of the psychic functioning of this age. In this particular case going form the first demand to the desire to end therapy, from sessions given on demand to more regular sessions, the transference evolved from a narcissic type to an oedipal type, heterosexual and homosexual. Some typical conflict of the age has emerged: mourning of childhood and anticipation of adolescence in its physical, relational and psychic implications. In elaborating this temporal dimension, the child develops, with the decline of the Oedipus complex, a cathexis of a personal historical space. This cathexis is a crucial process and facilitates the going through adolescence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Latency--a reappraisal.

This paper discusses the specific metapsychology and developmental tasks of the latency period. It offers a Kleinian view of the phase and compares it with other current psychoanalytic theories. The emphasis is on the importance of ego and superego growth and integration during latency resulting in better contact with both external and internal reality. Character formation, social integration and learning are discussed as the specific developmental tasks of the period. Freud's original formulation that the latency period is a consequence of the resolution of the Oedipus complex is evaluated in the light of contemporary developments. I draw on the ideas of Klein and others such as Loewald, Burgner, Holder, Tyson to describe it as a process of progressive and more complex elaboration throughout latency, interconnected with superego development. This process of gradual working through is considered to be a fundamental feature of the period. This model of progressive maturation is illustrated with clinical material. The clinical concept of pseudo-latency is used to distinguish between the developmental achievement represented by the establishment of the latency organisation in contrast to a defensive structure (pseudo-latency) which hides pathology.

Child↗
PubMed1995

The vital role of adaptive grandiosity in artistic creativity.

The artist needs adaptive grandiosity in order to create. Adaptive grandiosity is an ego-state that derives from primary narcissism and a partial resolution of the positive Oedipus complex, with the ego-ideal merged with the ego. It functions as a manic defense to overcome the artist's annihilation anxiety when confronting the blank canvas or other aspects of creativity which unconsciously represent separation from the maternal introject. Because of it fragile, defensive nature, adaptive grandiosity can readily degenerate into maladaptive grandiosity (omnipotence), which can block creativity. Clinical examples are used to illustrate the differences between adaptive grandiosity and omnipotence.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

Has sexuality anything to do with psychoanalysis?

This paper, prepared as a Sigmund Freud birthday lecture for the Anna Freud Centre, takes the opportunity to clarify and to debate some of the misunderstandings surrounding the meaning and significance of sexuality in psychoanalysis. The author departs from twin observations he has made in the last ten years: direct discussion of sexuality seems to have become marginalised and restricted to specialised papers in psychoanalytic journals. Attempting to question and understand this trend the author recalls that Freud placed sexuality at the centre of psychic development, psychoanalytic theory and clinical work. The contemporary and fashionable focus on object relations, pregenital fixations, borderline pathology and theories and techniques drawn from observations of child development have obscured, the author argues, the meaning and importance of sexuality in psychoanalytic theory and practice. A condensed review of Freud's ideas about sexuality and a re-evaluation of them is aimed at restoring the importance of genital sexuality and the Oedipus complex to their central place. For this author today's sexuality is not Freud's sexuality.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[Roald Amundsen--a study of personality].

Roald Amundsen is the most famous of the Norwegian polar explorers. His ancestors came from a group of islands south-east of the Oslofjord. From being fishermen and sailors, they progressed to becoming captains and shipowners in the course of two generations. Amundsen's father, Jens, stayed at sea until his ship went down with all the crew. Roald was 14 years of age at the time, the youngest of four competing brothers. Jens had left the close-knit local family community before that, and bought a flat in the capital, Oslo, so that his sons could get a better education. Roald's mother wanted him to study medicine. He did as she wished for a time, but was not at all interested. When his mother died, he abruptly left the university and went to sea, which had been the tradition in his family for decades. As a young boy he was an admirer of Sir John Franklin and his explorers of the Northwest Passage. Fridtjof Nansen became his ideal. The biographies about Roald Amundsen are very diverging--some hold him a hero, others reflect a strongly critical attitude. Here, the author tries to define his personality and places him firmly within the narcissistic domain. His tendency to seek the company of married women, but to take immediate flight when they really became interested reflects an Oedipus complex from before puberty. The tragic death of his father, the sea captain, may have been a supposition; puberty can be seen as a period of coping with ambivalence towards an earlier idealized father. His genius combined ambitious goals with a sharp eye for details as regards the equipment used in his expeditions. In his travels in the Arctic and the Antartic he was driven forward by the energy of the nation. His heroic death, trying to save his earlier "enemy", Nobile, was probably caused by an urge for self-destruction.

Expeditions↗
PubMed1977

On Guntrip's analysis with Fairbairn and Winnicott.

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.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1990

Electra complex.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Eponyms↗
PubMed1991

Unusually limited nucleotide sequence variation of the expressed major histocompatibility complex class I genes of a New World primate species (Saguinus oedipus).

Although major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules are, as a rule, highly polymorphic in mammalian species, those of the New World primate Saguinus oedipus (cotton-top tamarin) exhibit limited polymorphism. We have cloned and sequenced twelve MHC class I cDNAs from this species. Since cloned cotton-top tamarin cell lines express three to six MHC class I molecules, this species must have at least three functional MHC class I loci. There was, however, no evidence of locus-specific substitutions in the tamarin cDNAs. Unlike all other species studied, tamarin MHC class I cDNAs displayed limited nucleotide sequence variation. The sequence similarity between the two most divergent tamarin cDNAs was 95%. To ensure that the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers employed in these studies had amplified all of the tamarins' expressed MHC class I genes, we used another set of primers to amplify only exons 2 and 3 from RNA and DNA. PCR of genomic DNA resulted in the amplification of six distinct clones, of which only three were well expressed. Two of these nonexpressed genes were pseudogenes and the other was a nonclassical gene. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that the tamarin has 8-11 MHC class I genes, suggesting we had indeed cloned the majority of these genes. Cotton-top tamarins are, therefore, unique among mammalian species studied to date in that they express MHC class I molecules with limited nucleotide sequence variation.

Animals↗