The Oedipus complex is considered the cornerstone of Freudian psychoanalysis, one of the fundamental concepts of psychoanalytic theory, both to explain the formation of personality structure and to understand the clinic.
Compared to theory, the Oedipus complex is the central axis of Freudian movement theory and metapsychology, as it explains psychic functioning and personality formation, which at the time generated a milestone and was a revolution, as this new approach was based on the principle of psychic causality, based on the unconscious , to explain the formation of personality.
- The importance of the Oedipus complex in clinical analysis lies in its causality.
- Where.
- Depending on its development and resolution.
- A certain personality structure will develop and.
- With it.
- The generation of symptoms in different structural modalities (psychosis.
- Neurosis.
- Perversion).
To begin with, it is necessary to clarify that the use of the technical term?Psychoanalysis, refers to a conflict, so the meaning is radically different from its use in psychology or popular jargon, where does it refer ?, be complex?or “have complexes. “
Therefore, the Oedipus complex alludes to a conflict based on an organized set of loving and hostile desires that the child experiences towards his parents, does Freud define it as the unconscious desire to have sex?Incestuous? With the parent of the opposite sex. ?and eliminate the same-sex father?
“For the first time, the child must exchange pleasure for social dignity. -Sigmund Freud-
Formally, Freud gives a complex status to the Oedipus complex in his work “Five lectures on psychoanalysis?” (1910). We say formally because we know that he has been using this term since 1897, in reference to Sophocles’ masterpiece called “Eedip the King. “
Freud uses the Greek tragedy of Pedy rei to explain the universality of the child’s ambivalence towards his parents, as well as the development of heterosexual and homosexual components, a subject that will be resumed in adolescence, where there is a transformation of sexuality and the breakdown of parental authority.
Freud, in his book Three Essays for a Sex Theory? (1905), affirms that in children the recurrent incestuous fantasy of expelling and replacing the rival father, that is, the father for the child and the mother for the daughter. that would arouse both guilt and fear of punishment.
Would the defense mechanism be an answer? Natural? To this dynamic, to solve these desires. The defense mechanisms that will act will be different depending on the type of emerging personality, in the case of neurosis the return will allow for editic resolution, while in the case of psychosis the editic resolution would be given by closure and insight by denial.
“Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity. -Sigmund Freud-
The defense mechanisms used by each person to solve the Oedipus complex will determine the structure of their personality and therefore also determine how they deal with and face the outside world as well as the inner world. Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalyst very close to the Freudian current, is the one who will best explain the role of closure and resignation as defense mechanisms.
However, as we delve deeper into the role that the Oedipus complex plays in the feelings of ambivalence that may exist towards parents, there is a role of this complex that stands out above all others: does it allow the child to be included in the norm?The law, and culture, does Freud refer to it in his play Totem and Taboo?From 1913, when he wrote about the primitive horde.
In the work of “Totem and Tabou”, the regrets and feelings of guilt that manifested themselves in the horde after the totem’s assassination led to the establishment of a new social order based on exogamy; i. e. in the ban?or taboo of the women of the clan. At the same time, have you given way to totemism?The determination to kill the totemic figure that symbolically replaces the father.
The prohibitions of totemism (incest and totem murder) represent the two central unconscious desires of the Oedipal conflict. Freud concludes in this book that the Oedipus complex is the central condition of totemism, therefore universal and the founder of culture in every human society.
Freud articulates the Oedipus complex with the castration complex, which is the reaction to sexual harassment or the reduction of sexual practice in early childhood. The castration complex will be the consequence of the establishment of the rule, of the prohibition introduced by the father figure.
The threat of castration (in men) or the idea of being neutered (in girls) will lead to the mechanism of repression of the first sexuality, for later adolescence to allow an exrogative choice or object.
Thus, after the action of repression (defense mechanism), the neurotics will show the establishment of a very important psychic authority: the superya. This instance will produce a psychic order and will do so by introducing the social norm; a standard that is also attributed to the father figure. This introduction of the law will allow the child to begin organizing his inner world, taking into account external desires and demands.
The Oedipus complex will be a fundamental pillar of psychoanalytic theory, to which Freud assigned various functions:
After what has been said, we see that the complex of Oedipus, for Freud, is framed in a triangular relationship formed by mother, father and son, the resolution of this triangle will condition the personality of the child, with the introduction of the standard that will allow the assimilation of a social and cultural order.
“Civilization began the first time an angry man threw a word instead of a stone. -Sigmund Freud-