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PubMedDate not supplied

[On controversies around the Oedipus Complex].

In the article the author would like to draw the readers' attention to one of the central issues of psychoanalysis, i.e. Oedipus complex. In the development of the psychoanalysis the classical conception of Oedipus complex presented by Freud gave rise to a severe criticism both on the part of some psychoanalysts, especially women such as e.g. Melanie Klein, and on the part of ethnographers such as B. Malinowski. In the paper the author presents the main controversies concerning this interesting discussion. The fact of the matter is that the Oedipus complex is a hotly debated subject, not only from the cultural point of view but also within the psychoanalytical movement.

Freudian Theory↗
PubMed1983

Some relations between the negative Oedipus complex and aggression in the male.

The conflictual problems that accompany the Oedipus complex, in both its positive and negative (normal and inverted) forms, have long been recognized. It has also been well established that normal and pathological identifications derive from bisexual tendencies and from the complications of early life experiences that reinforce love or hate toward father and mother respectively. In the male, two mechanisms that can operate to bring about a predominant feminine identification and hence a negative or inverted Oedipus complex have been described. First, there is that of a primary identification with the mother, and the seeking of the father as object, with castration anxiety as a consequence. Alternatively, the sequence has been considered to involve positive oedipal wishes with mother as object; accompanying castration anxiety based on expectation of punishment; submission in a negative oedipal position as an attempted defense, only serving, however, to reinforce castration anxiety; and ultimately, a reversion to reactive aggression against the father. The links between unconscious homosexuality and paranoia in light of the foregoing dynamics have been indicated. The influence of preoedipal experience has long been presumed, though not systematically traced. With the advance of understanding of the earliest phases of childhood development, further clarification has become possible. Several factors are discussed in this paper, with illustrative clinical material. Included are the parental roles in perpetuating infantile conflicts of each libidinal phase, and in progression from symbiosis to successful separation-individuation. The resultant difficulties in ego development and in the establishment of mature object relations are described. The subsequent problems in mastering the tasks of the oedipal phase are detailed, showing the effects in terms of alternating positive and negative oedipal strivings. The adolescent-phase struggles are touched on, including the unrealistic ego-ideal structuring based on the negative oedipal stresses. Finally, the relation between unconscious homosexuality, beating fantasies, and paranoia is discussed, with the implications regarding aggression and its effects on psychopathology.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

The Oedipus complex in the contemporary psychoanalysis.

In this article, authors have tried to answer the question: "Where is the place, and what is the meaning of the Oedipus complex in contemporary psychoanalysis?" The review of different theoretical standpoints was given, according to meaning and place of the Oedipus complex in human development. Although it depends on the resolving of preoedipal conflicts, the conflicts of phallic phases of the psychosexual development are universal to all human being, no matter how we call them--Oedipus, Electra or Persephone Complex.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

A biological basis for the Oedipus complex: an evolutionary and ethological approach.

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.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Some remarks on the Oedipus complex from an ethological point of view.

Starting from the classical psychoanalytic view that, in human evolution, an overlap of sexual maturation and dependency occurred, the oedipal situation is regarded as an innate behavioral sequence that also includes appropriate parental responses. An integration between this level of development and the earlier sequence of symbiosis and separation is attempted. In this connection, Bowlby's concept of the subsidiary attachment figure plays a central role. The links between pathological developments at the oedipal level and those at the earlier level are investigated, and clinical examples are provided. In many cases, the Oedipus complex is considered to be the culmination of a bad symbiosis. The hypothesis is then put forth that the Oedipus complex, as a pathological structure, is an historical phenomenon which arose when cultural developments interfered with the appropriate parental responses. It is suggested that these developments were the changes which took place after the advent of agriculture, in particular the changes in family and character structure connected with the peasant adaptation. Finally, the relevance of these problems to training analysis is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

["Archaic matrix of the oedipus complex"].

The clinical implication of Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel's concept of the "archaic matrix of the Oedipus complex" is examined, the resulting deeper understanding of the Oedipus myth is considered. A discussion follows of Chasseguet-Smirgel's way of using this concept in her historical evaluation of German Romantism with regard to the Nazi times and nowadays politics of the Westgerman Green Party.

Germany↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Oedipus complex in the case of sexual abuse].

The paper describes a specific form of Oedipus complex that may occur as a result of sexual abuse. The author emphasises that formation of the image of one parent due to actual sexual abuse and the activity of the child's (patient's) own iscestual impulses causes that the second parent is experienced as a terrorizing and revenging rival. As a result, the child in his/her psyche, must face not only his/her own incestual desires, but also the parental objects, which do not provide any support, sense of safety or stability of existence. The author illustrates his thesis with a summary of three sessions of analytic psychotherapy of the patient with whom he worked in Cassel Hospital in London. In the described case, it can be seen how the patient's involvement in the therapy and her good will connected with it stimulated her incestual desires addressed at the analytician, what, in turn, activised the patient's destructive, punishing behaviour.

Child↗
PubMed1979

The Oedipus complex or hey, Mom. Where is Daddy?

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.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
PubMed2004

The role of an early-life variant of the oedipus complex in motivating religious endeavors.

A close reading of sources Freud used in writing Totem and Taboo supports the thesis that a predecessor archaic oedipus complex is instrumental in motivating religious worship. This early-life complex manifests a psychodynamic in which birth, growth, and self-realization, to varying degree in each individual, tend to be psychically correlated with diminution and harm vis-à-vis one's procreators. As a result, the psychodynamic is likely to induce unease over youth exercising its powers. The story of Adam and Eve, which depicts a growing self-determination being stymied and coming to grief, is a mythic epitome of this psychodynamic. Religious practices serve to expiate the sense of unease, partly by replenishing and even recasting seemingly diminished procreators, through myth and ritual, into omnipotent, immortal entities, and partly by reversing individuation's challenge to authority by exhorting submission to, and even union, with the divine parent. The sources used in demonstrating the various means whereby religious practices serve to ameliorate the burden of "original sin" include W. R. Smith (1894), the Old Testament, and studies of archaic religious rites, including those of the Aztecs.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Klein's archaic Oedipus complex and its possible relationship to the myth of the labyrinth: notes on the origin of courage.

The ancient Greek myth linking the images of the labyrinth and the Minotaur provides an allegory for Melanie Klein's conception of the archaic Oedipus complex as well as a vivid illustration of Winnicott's notions of object usage and the 'subjective object'. The labyrinth is suggestive of mother's body as the first area for an infant's exploration and putative sadistic conquest. The Minotaur, in turn, suggests the infant's unconscious phantasies about the content of mother's body, namely such projective identifications onto that body as the paternal penis and the 'internal babies'. Further, the heroic dynamic personified by Theseus in the myth of the labyrinth metaphorically signifies what is here proposed as a developmental line that involves the courage to do a number of things, including to become, to create, to seek, to explore, to do, to challenge, to undertake risks, to accept, to rescue, to initiate, to think, to know and to realize. The Minotaur can thus be thought to serve as a universal subjective signifier for an 'Object of Challenge', which, if not successfully dealt with by the ego-development of the infant, transforms that default into the 'Object of Nemesis'. Ultimately, this myth of mastery speaks to the psychoanalytic process itself as well as casting light on the transformative aspects of sexual intercourse as a personal healing ritual.

Ego↗
PubMed1985

Oedipus complex and development of self.

The emergence of oedipal object relations is a crucial stage in the development toward individuated adult mentation, distinguished from early stages of psychic life which are transindividual (as in Kohut's "selfobject transference"). The latter continue to function as deep layers of individual psychic life; but the development of oedipal/postoedipal object relations, and advanced psychic structure and functioning based on it, represents a norm in psychoanalytic psychology and therapy. The poet John Keats's ideas about the formation of the individual "soul" (identity as an individual) by the intervention of "circumstances" are cited to illustrate this aspect of the oedipus complex.

Child↗