Difficult readingsimportant to get outline of Oedipus complex Controversy surrounding gender development, gender identity, importance of earlier phases.

Difficult readings—important to get outline of Oedipus complex

Controversy surrounding gender development, gender identity, importance of earlier phases of development, importance to the development of psychic structure

Importance of sexual body parts to underlying theory

Oedipus Rex : Psychoanalytic Foundation of Child Psychopathology

Myth of Oedipus Rex (Sophocles) Laius prophesied to die by son’s own hand Laius sets son out to die Unknowingly, son Oedipus survives, returns to

where his parents lived, kills his father, and commits incest with his mother

Freud read play, believed that patients were telling him the same story in their dreams, fantasies, and free associations, so he called this central conflict “Oedipus Complex”

Synopsis of Case of Little Hans 5-year-old boy had phobia of going into

street Phobia of horses Fear that horses were going to bite off his

genitals Freud reasoned that Little Hans wanted to

kill father, have mother

Little Hans feared retaliation for his wishes through castration

Little Hans could not experience these wishes and fears directly toward father because he also loved his father

Displacement onto horses, which has become associated to father

Interpretation of this conflict resulted in remission of symptoms

Outline of Oedipus Complex Asymmetry of conflict for boy and girl Both boy and girl develop first attachment, filled

with sexual longing, to mother Separation-individuation results in separate self

who desires mother, who consists of good and bad parts (object constancy)

Capacity to observe father, his relationship with mother

At around same time perception of anatomical differences takes place

•Oedipus Complex takes two different paths for boys and girls

For boys—wish to have mother exclusively, to get rid of rival father

Fear of retaliation through castration (sees girl without penis)

Gives up wish, identifies with aggressor (A. Freud) and prohibitions, and sublimates feelings until he can displace them onto someone like mother (a female peer)

For girls—wish to have mother exclusively, to get rid of rival father

Wish to have penis that mother would not provide; disappointed that they are without penis

Displacement of wishes onto father, who will give them the penis and a baby

Father gives penis to mother, not her, so sublimates feelings until she can displace them onto someone like father (a male peer)

Positive and negative Oedipus Complex Positive Oedipus Complex—love opposite-sex

parent and hate same-sex parent Negative Oedipus Complex—hate opposite-sex

parent and love same-sex parent (like the negative of a photograph)

Parents are killed off in fantasy As authority figures (internalized) As libidinal objects (gratifications sought in others)

Superego formation documents this murder Atones for murder by prohibiting incest Restores relationships intrapsychically Lack of mourning over loss produces guilt and need for

punishment, which seeks to avoid guilt

Parracide and Its Relation to the Oedipus Complex (Loewald)

Successful resolution of Oedipus Complex Acknowledgment of murderous impulses

(parracide) –facing and bearing this guilt Acknowledgment of loving impulses (incest) –

feeling and bearing this guilt Integration of conflicting needs rather than one

set of needs defending against the other The king is dead, long live the king Recreating these murdered relationships through

novel love relations

Importance of preoedipal factors The effects of the psychotic core for

understanding identification and object cathexes Transferences arising from psychotic core permit

temporary suspension of subject-object boundaries and phenomenon of empathy

Superego aids in ultimate separation—individuation

Problem of Oedipal Development for Girls (Jones)-Two Views of Oedipal Development

Girls have “male attitude” (clitoris = penis) and enter into female identification through disappointment in clitoris

Girls begin with “female attitude” (nipple = penis) and temporarily enter into male identification through disappointment in not receiving penis (father’s incorporated into mother through act of fellatio) – mother is refusing to give it to her

Fear of mother’s castration (wanting to rob mother) results in flight to male attitude according to view B. (imperfect nipple satisfaction need bigger nipple (penis))

Ultimately, wishes for penis are sublimated and displaced onto male peers during adolescence

Social and Political Implications of Oedipus Complex (Benjamin)

Oedipus Complex represents a repudiation of the identification with mother, including her roles as nurturer and source of recognition

Because of this repudiation and the resulting consequences of pseudo-autonomy and independence, boys repress their identification with omnipotent mother, along with feelings of dependency and helplessness

This unconscious omnipotence gets reenacted in subjugation of women and nature, polarity of gender roles and mutuality/autonomy continuum

Boundaries between subject and object need to be loosened, not tightened, allowing for more identification with mother

Objections to Thesis

Romanticizing of female oedipal development Dismissing role of difference in physical strength between

men and women and its role in subjugation of women Lack of consideration for aggressive, sexual drives Optimistic view of lack of development of psychic structure

for taming of the destructive instinct (pp. 224, 238) Problem is with Oedipus Complex and men (p.220), but

omnipotence, separation-individuation issues take place between mother and infant (p. 227)