Effect of tachistoscopic stimulation of subconscious oedipal wishes on competitive performance: A failure to replicate.

Studied the effects of subconscious oedipal wishes on the dart-throwing performance of 72 18–29 yr old undergraduate males. The research was designed (a) to replicate the study by L. H. Silverman et al (1978), who found that Ss' dart-throwing performance improved after they viewed the subliminal stimulus "beating dad is ok" and worsened after they viewed "beating dad is wrong"; (b) to see if dart-throwing behavior is also affected by supraliminal oedipal stimulation; and (c) to investigate the influence of priming (i.e., preexperimental arousal of oedipal wishes) on the effect of tachistoscopic stimulation. Previous results were not replicated despite close adherence to the Silverman et al methodology, nor were other significant effects found. Questions are raised about the ability to have an impact on subconscious oedipal wishes in a behaviorally observable way using this paradigm. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Oedipal sibling triangles

Sibling triangles exist independent of parent-child triangles and undergo parallel development into constellations bearing significant formal and dynamic similarities to the standard parent-child oedipal relationships. They may exert definitive effects on the individual's identifications, adult object choices, and patterns of relating. Recognition of such constellations and their outcomes is often crucial to successful therapy. A developmental line is delineated with emphasis on the recapitulation throughout development of oedipal sibling issues. Speculations are offered about the possible factors responsible for pathological outcomes of oedipal sibling triangles, and about why, in many cases, oedipal sibling experience may be more influential in development than oedipal parental experience.     

Silverman's subliminal psychodynamic activation: A failure to replicate.

L. H. Silverman's (see record 1977-05955-001) report that subliminally presented stimuli designed to increase or decrease oedipal conflict can affect competitive performance was tested in 3 experiments on a total of 91 male undergraduates. In none of the experiments was there a difference between performance following exposure to subliminal oedipal conditions and performance following neutral baseline conditions. Results should be considered in light of changes made over the course of these experiments that produced a bias in favor of replication. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A special oedipal mechanism in the development of male homosexuality.

A special oedipal mechanism in the development of homosexuality in high functioning neurotic men—the plicate Oedipus complex—is described, in which the father serves simultaneously as both the object and the prohibitor of erotic excitement in the oedipal-age boy. This mechanism, it is argued, replaces the more widely recognized negative and positive oedipal mechanisms and functions correspondingly in superego formation and general psychosexual development. The consequences of the plicate Oedipus complex for the homosexual male are described in terms of later sexual behavior, interpersonal relations, superego functioning, and transference paradigms. Guidelines for psychoanalytic therapy with homosexual men are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Micropsia and testicular retractions

Five episodes of micropsia, which were precipitated by oedipal masturbatory fantasies, are described in the analysis of an adult male. Traumatic visual events and testicular retractions during the oedipal and latency years predisposed the ego functions concerned with visual perception to later involvement in conflict. The micropsia itself is seen as defending against castration anxiety by means of a series of unconscious fantasies of denial. These fantasies cause a regression to an earlier mode of visual perception (and to micropsia) characteristic of latency. The defensive modifications of the functions of the ego itself seen in micropsia are closely allied to those seen in the dèjá vu experience and in depersonalization.     

Problems in falling in love

Certain patients enter psychoanalysis because of their inability to love another person. Often they report a repetitive erotic pursuit of desired partners, without being able to experience or maintain loving feelings. Kernberg has understood such difficulties as representing effects of early narcissistic disappointments and/or of difficulties in resolving oedipal conflicts. In this paper, Lacanian concepts of the mirror phase and symbolic love are employed to develop these issues. Sexualization of problems in mirroring may be fused with oedipal conflicts in some cases. An extended vignette is presented to illustrate the technical and theoretical issues.     

The Boy With Two Kingdoms: Ontogeny of a narrative.

Explores a 3-yr-old boy's attempt to come to terms with the event of his parents' divorce at the same time that he was trying to consolidate a sense of self that would enable him to negotiate the rocky path of oedipal development. The article traces his infantile construction (within his treatment) of an increasingly complex narrative ("The Boy With Two Kingdoms") to comprehend and cope with troubling internal and external demands. It is also intended to shed light on how such a narrative is modulated and maintained and how it eventually becomes embedded in the ongoing demands of character. Using case material, the author reveals the ways in which the realms of self, fantasy, and destiny intersect in the life of a young child. The shift from preoedipal to oedipal development is traced, and the inherent reparative possibilities in narrative process, as it is embedded in psychoanalytic treatment, are demonstrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Freudian construction of sexuality: the gay foundations of heterosexuality and straight homophobia

In developing his theory of male sexual preference, Freud asserted that heterosexual as well as homosexual preferences required explanation, that neither could be assumed to be innate. His theory of the oedipal complex, however, held that the heterosexual outcome was the "normal" resolution, while the homosexual outcome represented arrested sexual development. In the normal resolution the boy identifies as a male with the father, gives up the mother as a love object, and later substitutes another woman of his choice for the mother. The author of the following article, following the theorizing of Laplanche, claims that there is an unavoidable homosexual component or residue in the heterosexual resolution which is implicit in Freudian theory. In the resolution of the complex the boy has the choice of both parents as love objects or as persons with whom to identify. In the heterosexual resolution the boy identifies with the father as a rival for the mother's affection. But love and identification are not entirely discrete processes. The identification with the father involves love for the father. The heterosexual resolution of the oedipal conflict is bought at the price of the homosexual resolution which, however, is not completely surrendered. The homophobia of heterosexual males, the author asserts, is the result of the remnants of homosexuality in the heterosexual resolution of the oedipal conflict.     

Some comments on Kohut's "The two analyses of Mr. Z."

Comments on H. Kohut's (1979) 2 analyses of a young male client. The initial application of self psychology to the analytic treatment is discussed with regard to potential sequelae of early trauma and object loss, the primacy of drives, the role of oedipal conflict and the selfobject in human development, and the significance of empathy as opposed to the uncovering of unconscious phenomena by means of interpretation in the therapeutic process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cloacal anxiety in female development

Contemporary psychoanalytic theory about feminine genital anxieties has shifted our focus away from some essential developmental realities of the little girl prior to the oedipal phase. Anal phase experience has recently been reemphasized as contributing significantly to the girl's developing body image, her mastery modes, and her psychological experience of gender. This paper proposes that associated with this phase is a specific anxiety described as the girl's fear that her genital is dirty, messy, and repellent to the love object, and that her sexuality is out of control and dangerously explosive. This is an important anxiety for the girl, a specific feminine version of anxiety around loss of love and approval. It derives from her bodily experience and is typically incorporated into the feminine genital anxieties of the oedipal period.     

The replacement of the fantasied oedipal child: A disruptive effect of sibling loss on the mother-infant relationship.

Presents the case of a 30-yr-old woman whose sibling had died during adolescence and who experienced her own child, almost 2 decades later, as a replacement for the lost sibling. This process was facilitated by the oedipal meaning of her sibling and by the interference in her family's ability to mourn the death of the child. The case illustrates the manner in which these conflicts were activated during the patient's pregnancy and how they subsequently interfered in the developing mother–infant relationship prior to intervention. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and transference: Conversations with female analysts.

The possible influence of analysts' gender on the transference has received attention in recent psychoanalytic writing. Interviews with 17 senior female analysts about their views on this question are summarized. Most felt that analysts' gender does affect the transference, especially in the sequence of material's emergence, and should be taken into consideration in referrals. Possible influences on the "maternal" and "paternal" transferences, the erotic and "eroticized" transferences, and the oedipal transference were also discussed. Gender-related biases or countertransferences were suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brief psychotherapy for unresolved grief in an 82-year-old-man

This man experienced in old age the torment that occurs when early fantasies that underly anxieties are enacted in real life. His elderly wife, when she became confused, ordered their son to drive him from the marital home. When the wife died, the son kept the news from the husband until after the burial. These acts created in reality the fantasy of a reversed oedipal situation, with the son succeeding as a competitor for his father's wife. If the father had resolved his own oedipal strivings satisfactorily, presumably he would not have feared such competition. But there seemed to have been some early environmental failure that had prevented him from integrating in the process of maturation his own wishes for his mother and his fears of his father. Yet, despite the patient's advanced years, the early failure situation seemed to fade as he used the therapy not only to work through his grief, but also as an opportunity to experience anew in the transference a more facilitating environmental adaptation to his needs.     

Freud's unwritten case.

Discusses Freud's unpublished 5-yr treatment of the male patient "E.," whose therapy provides numerous examples of Freud's developing theories of psychodynamics and the role of infantile sexuality. The resonances between E.'s therapy and Freud's self-analysis suggest a number of conjectures about the role of oedipal and pre-oedipal issues in the construction of psychoanalysis. The use of material from E.'s therapy in The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud, 1900) links E.'s therapy to Freud's own anxiety-neurotic difficulties in the late 1890s and to the nascent theories of neurotic etiology, psychoanalytic interpretation, and transference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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.     

Brief dynamic psychotherapy in community mental health settings: Providing a holding environment on a short-term basis.

Because of funding limitations, Community Mental Health therapists must often apply brief therapy techniques to an inappropriate clientele. Previously developed techniques hasten treatment by means of the therapist actively focusing interpretations on either preoedipal or oedipal issues. An actively focused technique would be inappropriate for most Community Mental Health patients, however, because it would not effectively address their strong dependency needs. Active focusing would not provide the holding environment which is crucial in treating dependent patients. More appropriate is a moderate amount of focusing in the context of tolerant, unfocused listening to provide a holding environment. This approach is illustrated with case examples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The presence of absent persons: the identification changes of an adopted child

Through the case study of the analytic psychotherapy of an adopted child, the authors illustrate the specificity of identification problems, in particular towards the paternal imago within an oedipal context. The transferential-countertransferential conditions that enable to consider the psychosexual development, in relation to trauma and adoption, within the framework of the therapeutic relationship will also be considered.     

A Boy and Two Mothers: New Variations on an Old Theme or a New Story of Triangulation? Beginning Thoughts on the Psychosexual Development of Children in Nontraditional Families.

The author examines the ways in which a psychoanalytic perspective may illuminate the underlying developmental dynamics of children of lesbian parents. Families headed by gay and lesbian parents demand reconsideration of a theory of oedipal development based on heterosexual parents. If triangulation, the move from dyadic to triadic object relationships, depends on 2 primary processes--the child's acceptance of the immutability of generations and the child's recognition that children are excluded from the world of adult sexuality--parental gender or sexual orientation assumes less importance. The emergence of conscience from multifaceted processes of identification is consistent with this view of triangulation as a developmental phase. Children of gay and lesbian parents must be offered theories of healthy development that include them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy with high-achieving adolescent girls.

The "overnurtured child" is the label applied to adolescent girls whose strong mother-identification and oedipal attachment to father may be associated with a variety of achievement-related conflicts following puberty. Symptoms include anxiety, depression, vague feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and isolation from peers. These patients suffer from a form of identity diffusion in which pressures to continue achieving at their present rate of excellence collide with pressures to be more "feminine," social, and affiliative. Therapy is conceptualized as a kind of resocialization process aimed at facilitating separation from family and the development of an independent identity. In treatment, the therapist plays a variety of interrelated roles such as role model, family counselor, and teacher. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of transitional experiences in child psychotherapy: Dependence and trauma.

Demonstrates D. W. Winnicott's (1975) notion of the central, mutative role played by transitional experiences in the psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy of children, especially those in the oedipal and preoedipal periods. The special qualities of transitional experiences (magical, creative, free, and freeing) give both child and therapist the opportunity to transcend the child's dependent circumstances, allowing him or her to master and resolve otherwise intractable problems or traumas. The provision of an environment that fosters such experiences is as important to therapeutic change in children as are more traditional interventions such as interpretations, which, when mutative, are provided in the context of transitional experience. The cases of a 7-yr-old boy and a 5-yr-old boy illustrate such transitional experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)