Recapturing the Lost Father

Abstract

Father-transference gives voice to libidinal wishes, superego fears, and unmet developmental needs associated by the patient to his or her father. The actual gender of the therapist has no bearing on this displacement In the following case study both therapist and patient are female. Father-transference is categorized by its developmental function: Father, the object of Oedipal longing, a feeling state of transference-readiness; Father, the Oedipal rescuer, enabler of separation; Father, the focus of phallic identification. Under the sway of transference, memories of dead father emerged from repression, conflict was resolved and grief faded.     

Conversations with My Father

ABSTRACT

This article provides a brief review of the literature describing successful aging life tasks, such as reminiscence, meaning-making, and forming substantive connections. Using Relational-Cultural Theory as a base, the article addresses the need for connection and ways that connections can be developed and sustained in later life. Through a personal account, the authors also illustrate how grown children can use music to connect with their parents. Finally, the authors adapt A Musical Chronology and the Emerging Life Song, an intervention that uses music and memories, for use with older adults.     

A Lesson from My Father

Simple acts can heal. And God is present in those simple and humble acts. The following is a true story that illustrates these truths, told from the perspective of eyewitness, son, and physician.     

Father hunger and narcissistic deformation

The author advances the hypothesis that paternal availability and the relationship between the mother and father are crucial components of evolving character structure in children. He proposes that a kind of narcissistic pathology featuring perverse sexuality may eventuate in the absence of paternal availability and in the presence of a disordered relationship between the parents. He also suggests that the ways in which aggression is or is not modulated and organized are crucial components of this evolving disorder, and that boys are more susceptible to its full manifestation and expression than are girls.     

Imitative Aggression with Adult Male and Female Models in Father Absent and Father Present Negro Boys

Summary

Young Negro boys from father present and father absent homes showed similar aggressive behavior after viewing films of Negro adult male or female models behaving aggressively. In a control condition father present and absent boys showed similar aggressive behavior without seeing any film. For both groups of boys, there was significantly less aggression in the female model condition than in either the male model or the control, no model conditions, suggesting an inhibitory effect of the female model.     

Father Absence and Familial Antisocial Characteristics

This study examined family antisocial characteristics according to whether biological fathers live at home and agree to be study participants. Antisocial symptoms were tabulated for 161 clinic-referred children and their parents. Families with fathers at home had fewer paternal, maternal, and child antisocial symptoms, and scored higher on multiple SES indicators, than did families with departed fathers. Antisocial characteristics were highest, and SES was lowest, when fathers could not be located or recruited. Results suggest that requiring father participation (as in family-trio genetic designs) screens out the more antisocial families. Of clinical interest, antisocial behavior in any family member is more likely if the father is absent and nonparticipating. The heightened antisocial behavior in children associated with absent biological fathers was not mitigated by presence of stepfathers and was not accounted for by lower SES. The ethical use of mother report on absent fathers is discussed.     

The Position of the Single-Parent Father

This article presents the profile and roles of the single-parent father. Problems that fathers face at work and at home are discussed. Recommendations are presented for counselors who work with single-parent fathers.