Biomaterial Database

Fathers and sons: Freud's discovery of the Oedipus complex. 2004

Kenneth A Fuchsman

Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs.

Freud's path to the Oedipus complex reveals conceptual inconsistencies. These uncertainties concern fathers, brothers and sons, and the place of the oedipal triad within the family romance. Freud's uncovering of the Oedipus complex emerged, in large part, from his self-analysis of his childhood years in Freiberg. Freud's father was 20 years older than his third wife, and had two adult sons, all of whom lived in Freiberg. In 1897, when Freud announces the Oedipus complex, he stresses his love of his mother and jealousy of his father. Yet in 1924 Freud wrote that his adult brother, Philipp, had taken his father's place as the child's rival. The oedipal complex alters if there are four players rather than three. Freud's concept of an oedipal triangle does not adequately explain the psychological dynamics of his childhood. Fuller conceptual clarity would occur if the dynamics of the Oedipus complex were placed within the family context in which it unfolds.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008149	Love	Affection; in psychiatry commonly refers to pleasure, particularly as it applies to gratifying experiences between individuals.	Loves
D009813	Oedipus Complex	Attachment of the child to the parent of the opposite sex, accompanied by envious and aggressive feelings toward the parent of the same sex.	Complex, Oedipus
D010287	Parent-Child Relations	The interactions between parent and child.	Parent-Offspring Interaction,Parent Child Relationship,Parent-Child Relationship,Interaction, Parent-Offspring,Parent Child Relations,Parent Child Relationships,Parent Offspring Interaction,Parent-Child Relation,Parent-Child Relationships,Parent-Offspring Interactions,Relation, Parent-Child,Relationship, Parent Child,Relationship, Parent-Child
D011572	Psychoanalysis	The separation or resolution of the psyche into its constituent elements. The term has two separate meanings: 1. a procedure devised by Sigmund Freud, for investigating mental processes by means of free association, dream interpretation and interpretation of resistance and transference manifestations; and 2. a theory of psychology developed by Freud from his clinical experience with hysterical patients. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996).	Psychodynamic Analysis,Analyses, Psychodynamic,Analysis, Psychodynamic,Psychodynamic Analyses
D002666	Psychology, Child	Branch of psychology involving the study of normal and abnormal behavior of children.	Child Psychology,Infant Psychology,Pediatric Psychology,Psychology, Infant,Psychology, Pediatric
D005195	Family Relations	Behavioral, psychological, and social relations among various members of the nuclear family and the extended family.	Family Relationship,Family Dynamics,Family Relationships,Dynamic, Family,Dynamics, Family,Family Dynamic,Family Relation,Relation, Family,Relations, Family,Relationship, Family,Relationships, Family
D005220	Fathers	Male parents, human or animal.	Father
D005619	Freudian Theory	Philosophic formulations which are basic to psychoanalysis. Some of the conceptual theories developed were of the libido, repression, regression, transference, id, ego, superego, Oedipus Complex, etc.	Theory, Freudian
D005858	Germany	A country in central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. The capital is Berlin.
D001317	Austria	A country located in Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia. The capital is Vienna.