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.     

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.     

Bedrock and beyond: an examination of the clinical utility of contemporary theories of female psychology

Libido theory and the idea of an innate matrix of bisexuality are an inadequate basis on which to understand female psychology. Rather, it is the mutual influence of sexuality, aggression, object relations, and a superego that inherits the object-related conflicts of early childhood, intertwined as these are with gender issues, that determine the way a woman experiences herself. A woman can have a basically confident, narcissistically valued sense of femaleness and at the same time be troubled by intense feelings of inadequacy and deprivation. Instead of arbitrarily attributing these feelings to penis envy and a sense of castration, based on the idea of bisexuality as bedrock, this paper suggests that we consider primary femininity as bedrock, but that the superego, as heir to unresolved preoedipal and oedipal object-related conflicts, functions to maintain these painful emotions. Clinical material illustrates the utility of these ideas.     

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.     

First pregnancy: Therapeutic issues for both female and male psychotherapists.

Discusses the reactions of psychotherapy clients to their therapist's 1st pregnancy, including the stimulation of unresolved oedipal and early developmental conflicts, fear of rejection and abandonment, and separation anxiety. Intensification of a maternal transference, sexual identity issues, and maternal loss and deprivation issues, along with hostile fantasies toward the unborn child and envy of the therapist as a mother and a sexual and fertile person, may arise. The reactions of the female therapist to her pregnancy may include emotional changes related to hormonal fluctuations, fatigue, and a growing sense of physical vulnerability; distraction due to the kicking of the fetus; and reduced functioning as a therapist due to feelings of fear, anger, guilt, and confusion over leaving her patients. Despite the paucity of research into the impact of impending parenthood on male therapists, it is suggested that they may experience many of the same role changes and conflicts, emotions, and reactions experienced by female therapists. Two case vignettes are presented to illustrate patient and therapist reactions to pregnancy, and suggestions to help both therapists and clients prepare to deal with issues surrounding the pregnancy are offered. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict resolution within the supervisory relationship.

158 graduate students in clinical psychology were surveyed concerning the occurrence, handling, and outcome of conflicts in their supervisory experiences. 38% of the Ss with supervised experience reported a major conflict with a supervisor that made it difficult to learn from supervision. Ss described 3 areas of conflict—theoretical orientation or therapeutic approach, style of supervision, or personality issues. The degree to which conflicts were discussed and successfully resolved seemed to depend partly on the type of conflict; it was easier to resolve conflicts that centered on style of supervision than on personality issues. When conflicts were not resolved, Ss often sought support from others, altered their behavior to conceal difficulties, or appeared to comply with the supervisor. Implications for the learning process in supervision are discussed. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time on my hands: The dilemma of the chronically late patient.

In this article the author discusses the problems and dilemmas created by patients who are chronically late for analytic hours or frequently absent from them. The discussion focuses on a single case study, in which this phenomenon was a predominant feature of the analytic process. The author explores some of the issues, dynamic and defensive, underlying such behavior as well as motivational components involving unresolved oedipal issues and powerful unsatisfied narcissistic needs. The temporal difficulties of patients such as this one demonstrate the role of time as a point of conjunction of aspects of the analytic relation involving the temporal dimension of the real structure of the analytic situation and its intersection with transferential and alliance considerations. The analytic task is to balance the temporal requirements of the analytic process against the array of the patient's infantile and narcissistic needs on one hand and legitimate claims for autonomy and freedom on the other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Psychoanalytic perspectives on adoption and ambivalence.

Examines childhood adoption from a psychoanalytic perspective and suggests that particular elements of the psychopathology that is sometimes associated with adoption are simply special instances of some general phenomena that pertain to all parent–child relationships. Data are presented from history, mythology, and literature to show that all children and all parents, whether their relationships are adoptive or biological, must come to terms with warring feelings of love and hate toward one another. It is this ambivalence that lies at the center of the myth of Oedipus; although Freud chose to emphasize Oedipus's ambivalence toward his parents, the cycle began with Oedipus's parents. Parental ambivalence is an essential contributor to both the myth and the intrapsychic phenomena that are called oedipal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

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.     

Lesbian homoerotic transference in dialectic with developmental mourning: On the way to symbolism from the protosymbolic.

This clinical study illustrates the developmental nature of homoerotic transference, when the psychoanalyst is attuned to the evolving dynamics of the mourning process, in this case with a lesbian analysand. The analysand's psychic fantasies of the female analyst as a muse and a demon lover figure are seen to transform into discrete mother and father transferences, as split off feminine and aggressive parts of the self are reintegrated along with heterosexual desires and oedipal desires. Protosymbolic enactments in terms of romantic gift giving and other seductive overtures transform into symbolic expressions of love, concern, regret, and tenderness. A lesbian marriage is preserved, and the loss of intimacy with men is mourned so that desires for intimacy with men can be sublimated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychoanalytic treatment of narcissism.

This paper discusses the need for change in emphasis from metapsychological debate to a sharp clinical focus on the complex nature of narcissistic pathology. Narcissism is viewed as a dimension of psychopathology found at all levels of psychic functioning, at the core of which are characteristic ego and superego deficits around self-cohesion, self-continuity, and self-esteem regulation. It is argued that, if the definition of conflict is not viewed too narrowly, traditional Freudian or ego-psychological techniques are applicable and that the treatment of narcissism does not require a new theory, separate from that of object relations. Clinical material is presented to illustrate that all psychological phenomena are over-determined and contain aspects of unresolved preoedipal and oedipal conflicts. There are critical selfhood aspects at each stage of development which must be understood and interpreted, in addition to the traditional structural conflicts. It is stressed that highly developed skills in listening and in interpreting are required in order to discern the narcissistic and object-relations aspects of the clinical material and that the countertransference around the analyst's own narcissism needs particular attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Motivational conflict and vocational development.

Presents a classification of the sources of motivational conflicts found in college students seeking counseling for vocational problems and their application to 82 vocational counseling cases. The major classification categories of synthetic difficulties, identity problems, gratification conflicts, change orientation, and overt pathology were derived from case notes and recent emphasis on a developmental approach to vocational choice that emphasizes personality development and treats successive choice points as transitional periods in a continuous process. Since the vocational choice task involves negotiating an integration of operating identity (needs, identification, skills, impulse-defense styles, and values) with occupational roles, the classification of motivational conflicts as a source of difficulty in vocational indecision offers a useful method for explicating issues in vocational-choice counseling. Applications to differential counseling processes are discussed. (l7 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taiwanese love styles and their association with self-esteem and relationship quality

This study is an examination of how Lee's (1973, 1977, 1988) love styles are related to Taiwanese attitudes toward romantic relationships. Traditional literature was explored to ascertain Chinese beliefs about love and customs surrounding courtships and marriage. Taiwanese students at the University of Texas completed the Love Attitudes Scale (C. Hendrick & S. Hendrick, 1990), a measure of Lee's love styles. Six factors were extracted, using a principle components analysis, that were similar in many ways to the love styles derived from American samples, but that reflected Chinese beliefs and attitudes. The relationships of Taiwanese love styles to self-esteem and relationship quality (i.e., satisfaction, the probability of breaking up, and the number of conflicts experienced in a month) suggested the significance of Chinese traditions as well as current social changes in Taiwan.     

Some roots of persistent homosexual fantasy and the quest for father's love: conflicted parental identifications in a male patient: fragment of an analysis

This is a clinical paper, which includes material from sessions, presenting the process of the analysis of a young adult male whose narcissistic character patterns, related to and evolved from failed attempts to integrate conflicting parental identifications. These unintegrated mother and father identifications contributed to life-long latent homosexual fantasies. Rodney's analysis indicates that for a boy/man, even a mother who has the qualities of a good enough parent, is not good enough to enable him to reach a nonconflicted manhood. A mother cannot provide for the boy the male model he needs and is searching for, the male who would affirm him in his maleness. Rodney wanted a father on whose shoulders he could stand to become a man. Rodney's persistent homosexual fantasy life, his quest for father's love, and his search for a masculine object to identify with stem from a combination of several factors. Rodney's regression to the negative oedipal phase was probably stimulated when father left the family. Rodney was eleven at the time. He felt overwhelmed experiencing himself as the oedipal victor. Unconsciously, Rodney feared his exacerbated incestuous wishes. He projected them upon his mother and subsequently incorporated them in his fantasies. His regression to more infantile dependency feelings was defensive. Rodney's father was an unsuitable object for identification. He was disinterested in Rodney and emotionally unavailable. Rodney, however, sought his father, whose lack of loving acknowledgement resulted in a lack of affirmation of Rodney's masculinity. Mother provided for Rodney the loving acknowledgement he lacked in his relationship with father. She was emotionally sustaining, an energetic, vibrant personality, who was seen by Rodney as a "superior human being." Rodney consciously idealized his mother toward whom he unconsciously also had ambivalent feelings. Rodney's identification with mother was not counterbalanced by the presence of a strong, loving father figure whom he could have used as a suitable model. This led to the development in Rodney of a strong sense of effeminization. Rodney in his homosexual fantasies assumed the so-called "feminine victimized" role. The regression to the negative oedipal phase contributed to an exacerbation of erotic, father-directed feelings, intensified by the identification with mother. Rodney was fixated in his quest for father's love. In addition, Rodney's unconscious guilt related to father and mother directed incestuous impulses, and his intense aggressivesadistic feelings contributed to the masochistic cast of his masturbation fantasies. Rodney's narcissistic aims and the quality of his narcissism changed during the analysis. His grandiosity almost disappeared. Rodney's goals became realistic and he acquired the skills necessary to achieve them. Inhibitions related to the "fear of success" were worked through. This enabled Rodney to compete successfully. His healthy narcissism derives from the success of his many achievements. Though Rodney remained a basically narcissistic personality, he did derive great pleasure from being a giving person. This was one of the many ways in which he identified with his mother. At the present, Rodney's identifications are selective and do not evoke intrapsychic conflict.     

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 Oedipus complex in a case of deteriorated schizophrenia.

This case report illustrates oedipal problems in an apparently deteriorated and almost unreachable male schizophrenic patient. The dynamics, however, differ somewhat from the classical interpretations of the oedipal situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)