Biomaterial Database

[Separation--aloneness--departure as steps in female development from the psychoanalytic viewpoint]. 1990

B Boothe

Psychologischen Institut der Universität Zürich.

Discussed here is the necessity of an inner process of separation from a maternal provider of care and the mother as a first oedipal object of love for the nonpathological early development of the young girl. The process of separation is bound up with necessary and intense reactions of disappointment in the mother and a destabilization of the young girl's feelings of her own value. It thus bears with it a threat of regression that could result in a fixation on the mother. Two such patterns of fixation, one of "compensation model" and the other the "providing of care model", are discussed. On the other hand, attention is also given to the progressive possibilities for coming to terms with the crisis in the relationship and the feelings of her own worth in the young girl. These possibilities are to be found in the young girl's decisive turning away from the mother in order to form her own identity by mobilizing and developing her own resources. This by no means implies an immediate turn to the father. First of all, this new object of love is already taken by the mother, and secondly, the girl wants to feel strong, not weak, in approaching him and must therefore keep him at a distance.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007207	Individuation	A process of differentiation having for its goal the development of the individual personality.	Individuations
D009034	Mother-Child Relations	Interaction between a mother and child.	Mother-Child Interaction,Mother-Child Relationship,Mother-Infant Interaction,Mother-Infant Relations,Interaction, Mother-Child,Interaction, Mother-Infant,Interactions, Mother-Child,Interactions, Mother-Infant,Mother Child Interaction,Mother Child Relations,Mother Child Relationship,Mother Infant Interaction,Mother Infant Relations,Mother-Child Interactions,Mother-Child Relation,Mother-Child Relationships,Mother-Infant Interactions,Mother-Infant Relation,Relation, Mother-Child,Relation, Mother-Infant,Relations, Mother-Child,Relations, Mother-Infant,Relationship, Mother-Child,Relationships, Mother-Child
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
D011574	Psychoanalytic Theory	Conceptual system developed by Freud and his followers in which unconscious motivations are considered to shape normal and abnormal personality development and behavior.	Oral Character,Psychoanalytical Theory,Theory, Psychoanalytic,Character, Oral,Characters, Oral,Oral Characters,Psychoanalytic Theories,Psychoanalytical Theories,Theories, Psychoanalytic,Theories, Psychoanalytical,Theory, Psychoanalytical
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D005260	Female		Females
D005783	Gender Identity	A person's concept of self as being male and masculine or female and feminine, or ambivalent, based in part on physical characteristics, parental responses, and psychological and social pressures. It is the internal experience of gender role.	Gender,Gender Identities,Identity, Gender
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man