Keats's oral imagination: "'Tis not through envy"

This study of four of Keats's greatest poems explores a dynamic pattern in the poet's imagination: a relationship between the oral/fusional imagery and the romantic/oedipal themes. The poet's imagination seems to have been propelled backward from oedipal conflict to earlier narcissistic/oral unrest and pleasure. There is a layering of special psychic capabilities evident in Keats's imagination: an element of oedipal romance which stabilizes the process of sublimation, a sense of magical play and danger in the maternal/oral imagery, and powerful narcissistic longins organized through the desire to communicate and the gift for expression.     

Psychic functions of failure

While we can explain significant differences in social mobility between different occupational categories in terms of the economic and social resources made available to them, in order to understand those who deviate from the statistical mode we need to look at the unconscious meaning of "success" and "failure." Beatrice, Dave, and Sally are all children of professional families and yet have great difficulty being successful at work. Their difficulties with work are multi-determined and there are oedipal and preoedipal issues involved. However, in the case of Beatrice the issues are predominantly oedipal, while in the other cases the issues are primarily preoedipal. It seems that while the common oedipal themes inhibiting productive work and work satisfaction have been discussed in psychoanalytic literature under the rubric "work inhibition," albeit to a small extent, the preoedipal themes have been given less attention. This is because the traditional concept of "inhibition" has taken such a central place in the psychoanalytic perspective on work. The concept of "work inhibition" has paralyzed the development of a broader psychoanalytic framework for the analysis of work problems. As long as we limit our discussions of problems with work to the term "inhibition," they will focus on the oedipal problems of neurotic patients and a large gap will remain between theory and clinical experience because a large number of our patients have difficulties with work that are rooted in preoedipal issues. Unless we can stop being "inhibited" by the very concept, our theoretical understanding of problems with work will continue to lag behind our clinical understanding. "Work inhibition" is not the only type of major problem with work patients can have--they can be the result of a variety of dynamics on either oedipal or preoedipal levels.     

Oedipus and the Oedipal

Psychoanalysts have assumed that Sophocles can be seen through the lens of Freud, and that the Oedipus complex is about the incest taboo, guilt, and aggression. However, an examination of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (as well as other plays) suggests that these themes are only a part of the central dynamics of the play, perhaps not the most central part. This article describes discrepancies between what Freud sees of oedipal dynamics and the oedipal dynamics at work in Sophocles and suggests possible explanations. A central theme of my discussion is the shame and blindness of Oedipus.     

Screen memory: its importance to object relations and transference

A screen memory of an obsessive and narcissistic man, reported early in psychoanalysis, both represented and disguised the patient's oedipal conflict, incestuous wishes, and sibling rivalry. It symbolized for him his relationship with his mother and was treated by him, in a repetitive and fetishistic manner throughout treatment, as the reason for his bitterness toward life, his sense of entitlement, his narcissism, and his distrust of women. In the transference, the memory-far from being inert- constantly played an active role in his wishes and disappointments regarding the analyst, and in his fantasied oedipal triumph over him. As the analysis progressed, and after years of treatment, the encapsulated nature of this memory began to give way to the patient's growing awareness of his oedipal wishes, the full range of his feelings toward his mother, and his sense of abandonment by her. The nature of screen memory is explored, including how it relates to a patient's personality and use of the past in general, how it may figure in the development of a person's object relations, and the decisive role it may play throughout a treatment.     

On the psychodynamics of collecting1

The urge to collect is a ubiquitous phenomenon which has anthropological, sociobiological and individual psychodynamic roots, but occurs far more frequently among men than women. The author examines the reasons for this gender difference and defi nes systematic collecting to distinguish it from addictive, obsessive and messy collecting, and from related phenomena such as perversion. The mode of collecting and choice of object are important indicators as to the unconscious psychodynamics of a collector and offer opportunity to describe his structural level. Collecting ranges across a broad spectrum, from an ego‐syntonic integrated mode, i.e. sublimation, to a neurotic defence against pre‐oedipal or oedipal traumas and confl icts. Alongside this drive‐theoretical approach, object and Kleinian theory are also applied to the understanding of collecting. Collecting represents a specifi c form of object relating and way of handling primary loss trauma, which is different from addiction, compulsion, or perversion. Under certain circumstances collecting can also result in a successful Gestalt or way of life. The paper concludes with a case study showing how collecting develops from a pre‐oedipal to a more integrated oedipal mode during the course of the analysis, which is refl ected in changes in the transference.     

The evolved function of the oedipal conflict

Freud based his oedipal theory on three clinical observations of adult romantic relationships: (1) Adults tend to split love and lust; (2) There tend to be sex differences in the ways that men and women split love and lust; (3) Adult romantic relationships are unconsciously structured by the dynamics of love triangles in which dramas of seduction and betrayal unfold. Freud believed that these aspects of adult romantic relationships were derivative expressions of a childhood oedipal conflict that has been repressed. Recent research conducted by evolutionary psychologists supports many of Freud’s original observations and suggests that Freud’s oedipal conflict may have evolved as a sexually selected adaptation for reproductive advantage. The evolution of bi-parental care based on sexually exclusive romantic bonds made humans vulnerable to the costs of sexual infidelity, a situation of danger that seriously threatens monogamous bonds. A childhood oedipal conflict enables humans to better adapt to this longstanding evolutionary problem by providing the child with an opportunity to develop working models of love triangles. On the one hand, the oedipal conflict facilitates monogamous resolutions by creating intense anxiety about the dangers of sexual infidelity and mate poaching. On the other hand, the oedipal conflict in humans may facilitate successful cheating and mate poaching by cultivating a talent for hiding our true sexual intentions from others and even from ourselves. The oedipal conflict in humans may be disguised by evolutionary design in order to facilitate tactical deception in adult romantic relationships.     

Oedipus or Orestes? Homosexual men, their mothers, and other women revisited.

The psychodynamic relationship between homosexual sons, their mothers, and other women in their lives is reexamined. The limitations of earlier writings on the topic are discussed, and a reconceptualized psychoanalytic model is presented for understanding some aspects of the relationships between these sons and their mothers during childhood. In particular, the oedipal stage of development is reformulated to coincide with the sexual orientation of the developing boy. This stage is then examined in the context of the discordant psychosocial environment in which it is often played out. The usefulness of this construct for understanding aspects of the psychosocial development of gay men throughout their lives, particularly their relationships with women, is explored through the examination of clinical data from a number of sources. Finally, the implications of this model for psychotherapeutic endeavors with homosexual men are considered.     

The Kore complex: on a woman's inheritance of her mother's failed Oedipus complex

The Greek myth of Kore/Persephone captures a particular psychopathology of women who are torn between a deadened and often asexual husband (Hades) and an ongoing close relationship with a caretaking mother (Demeter). Psychoanalytic work often reveals that these women live in the shadow of their mothers' failed oedipal complex. Their identificatory preoccupation with maternal object preservation disrupted or distorted their oedipal development, and ever since continues to serve as a defense against sexual strivings. Thus, these women are trapped in a Kore complex: as maiden caretakers, they remain attached to and torn between a "grain mother" and a grandfather transference object.     

A variation on Freud's theme in "A child is being beaten"--mother's role: some implications for superego development in women.

Clinical material is presented leading to a discussion of beating fantasies which varies from Freud's model. Analysis shows that the fantasied role girls assign to mother as the punisher in the oedipal drama is equivalent to the fantasied role boys ascribe to father as castrator. For both sexes, castration anxiety spurs the internalization of parental prohibitions, the repression of oedipal wishes, and the subsequent structuralization of the superego. Mother establishes the "oedipal law" for the girl analogously to father's doing the same for the boy. The role that such fantasies play in the formation of the female superego is examined.     

Some observations on the application of frame theory to the psychoanalytic situation and process

Frame theory can contribute to our understanding of psychoanalytic work in ways compatible with established psychoanalytic theory. Its concepts and metaphor convey the relativism of the psychic realities both parties bring to the analytic situation, as well as the multiple levels of transference that become framed upon the relationship. Its linkages to game theory stress the power of play and illusion in transference actualization and working through. The importance of rules and conventions for all three theories, and for the ability to do analytic work, suggests their essential grounding in the child's capacities for play, particularly those capabilities elaborated in latency following oedipal conflict resolution.     

“THESE ANXIETIES ARE NOT MINE”: ADOLESCENCE,THE OEDIPAL CONFIGURATION,AND TRANSGENERATIONAL FACTORS

Part 1 of this paper draws on the film Back to the Future (1985) to highlight various aspects of adolescence, the oedipal situation, and transgenerational factors. The authors then discuss the Oedipus myth and its themes of adolescence, narcissism, identity, acting out, repetition, aggression, and the parent–child relationship, among others. Comments drawn from Winnicott's writing on oedipal issues are discussed as well. As an illustration of some of these issues, in Part 2, the authors present the clinical case of Osvaldo, age sixteen. Transference‐countertransference issues in this treatment are explored in depth.     

Creativity and oedipal fantasy in Austen's Emma: 'An ingenious and animating suspicion'

Austen's Emma is one of the great novels of the Western tradition. In this paper the author explores the meaning of Emma's 'ingenious and animating suspicion' that Jane Fairfax seduced her best friend's husband, Mr Dixon. The interpretation that a psychoanalytic understanding makes possible shows how this suspicion represents an oedipal fantasy projected on to Miss Fairfax. Further exploration demonstrates how the fantasy is linked both to Emma's systematic unkindness to Jane Fairfax and to Emma's famous insult to Jane's aunt, Miss Bates. Emma's suspicion projects an oedipal fantasy with its incestuous impulses on to her rival and satisfies an envious aggression at the same time. The author's purpose in this paper is to bring to light through psychoanalytic understanding Austen's dramatisation of the complexity and creativity of the oedipal situation. In addition to the regression in oedipal fantasy, the primary process also functions with a progressive quality that expands and enriches the ego, a double movement described in Keats's 'negative capability', which has been elaborated by Bion. The primal-scene fantasies are often brought alive in the analytic transference. These situations and painful emotions are dramatically portrayed through Austen's genius as vehicles for change. A sudden integration follows a phase of disorganization: 'It darted through her with the speed of an arrow. Mr Knightley must marry no-one but herself'. Emma, who is Austen's 'imaginist', moves from the projected fantasy of the sad love triangle through envy aggression and the narcissistic blows of self-doubt and loss of love to moments of illumination and connection.     

A father to love: eros and identification in boys – an emendation of Freud on the male oedipal drama

The relationship between a son and his father is usually characterized as primarily one of rivalry. In this emendation of classic oedipal theory, what has traditionally been referred to as the ‘negative oedipal relation’ is given prominence as a boy’s first emotionally significant relationship in which he initiates affection with another human being, his father. Such love is in the service of identification but is also as important as the template for a male’s later relationships with women (sexual), other men, and his children. A peculiarity of Freud’s relationship with his own father is suggested as the source of oversight of this element of the oedipal drama. A boy’s emotional reactive response to his mother is primarily one of gratitude in response to her love. Proactive loving is first experienced with his father.     

The Believer

The author discusses the film The Believer (2001) as illustrative of ambivalence and conflict regarding aggression in the father-son relationship. The biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, a preoccupation of the film's protagonist, is explored in terms of its implications in considering oedipal rivalry themes. Filial conflict regarding the wish to surrender to the father is explored, as are conflicts regarding masculine and feminine identifications. The theme of Jewish self-hatred is discussed.     

The danger in deception: oedipal betrayal and the assault on truth

Certain potential precursors to heterosexual women's experience of partner infidelity are explored as these dynamics unfold within the oedipal crisis-the "betrayal" by the oedipal objects. As each child moves into the oedipal phase, he or she comes to recognize not only desire for the mother, but the mother's desire for the father. A doubling of this experience of "deception," encountered first in relation to the mother, and then repeated with the father, may be especially pronounced for a girl, as she is likely to inhabit more fully her bisexual potential in negotiating the expected shift of object choice from mother to father. "Deceived" by her primary maternal oedipal object, a girl sets forth toward her paternal oedipal object with "fidelity" already an issue, and with faith in her mind's ability to determine reality already shaken. Undermined trust in self and other is the context in which she begins the oedipal relation to her heterosexual object. This path is quite distinct from that traveled by the heterosexual boy. Clinical material illustrates the assault on one's mind, on one's confidence to determine what is true, that is a central aspect of both oedipal and adult betrayal.     

Revolt in the garden of eden: An alternative group model

The most common model used to highlight the significant features of a group revolt has been Freud's primal horde myth. In this essay the utility of this model will be briefly reviewed, then its most apparent limitation will be addressed. To wit, in this model the women play no active part in the revolution. On the other hand, as a model for group behavior the myth of the Garden of Eden preserves much of what is valuable in the primal horde myth, including the oedipal paradigm inherent in the revolution and, at the same time, offers a critical psychological understanding of the very active involvement women do have in groups before, during, and after the revolt. This is the main focus of this essay and will be explored in depth. Concomitant with this exploration, certain commonly observed behaviors of male group members during this critical phase of group life can also be better understood. Furthermore, the Garden of Eden myth highlights other important facets of the group revolt, and these will be noted. Finally a clinical example will be explored that vividly underscores the value of this alternative model.The author is grateful to Thomas Kohut, Ph.D., W. Donald Ross, M.D., and Walter Stone, M.D., for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

Postpartum Food Traditions of Bhutanese Refugee Women: a Qualitative Study

Bhutanese refugees represent one of Canada’s most recent immigrant populations, and little is known about their dietary traditions and habits. The purpose of this study was to improve the wellbeing and health of re-settled refugee Bhutanese women by understanding how culturally informed postpartum food choices are practiced post-migration. As part of a larger community-based participatory research project, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Bhutanese refugee women. The traditional dietary choices that Bhutanese women revealed to be important in the postpartum period were organized into five themes: (1) “foods consumed as part of a regular healthy diet,” (2) “foods to regain strength and heal the body,” (3) “foods to ward off back and joint pain,” (4) “foods to promote lactation,” (5) “foods avoided due to negative effects.” Traditional foods and culturally situated beliefs in the postpartum period play a significant role in the lives of Bhutanese women. Healthcare workers in countries of re-settlement should work with the traditional health and nutritional beliefs of women in this community in order to provide optimal dietary and health recommendations.     

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.     

Countertransference and the female triangular situation3

This paper represents an attempt toward reconciling contemporary changes in psychoanalytic understandings of female development, particularly in respect to separation issues, with their clinical applications to female patients. Psychoanalytic thinking typically has categorized separation conflicts as pre‐oedipal, but the authors suggest that these are an integral part of the triangular situation of the girl. The authors argue that an allegiance to erroneous theory and/or individual blind spots have led to the infantilization, pre‐oedipalization or cultural stereotyping of females, which constrains the effectiveness of their analyses. The authors present a selected review of the literature on gender‐based countertransference biases in both male and female analysts, with reference to female ‘oedipal’ material. Analytic case material of two women is presented which demonstrates how theoretical misperceptions and countertransferences to triangular separation conflicts can produce an impediment to progression in analysis.     

Clinical observations of play of hospitalized suicidal children

This paper emphasizes the usefulness of play observation for diagnosis, treatment, and understanding suicidal behavior of children. Predictive indicators of play for potential suicidal behavior are themes of separation and loss, repetition of dangerous and reckless behavior, misuse and destruction of toys, and repetitive acting out of omnipotent fantasies. The selection of a suicidal method is partly derived from unconscious motivations that are illustrated in play themes. This study revealed a characteristic suicidal technique of latency age children seems to be jumping from heights.