Freud theory father daughter
Definition, Freud, Examples, Symptoms, and More
The Electra complex is a term used to describe the female version of the Oedipus complex.
It involves a girl, aged between 3 and 6, becoming subconsciously sexually attached to her father and increasingly hostile toward her mother. Carl Jung developed the theory in 1913.
Sigmund Freud, who developed the Oedipus complex theory, first developed the idea that a young girl child competes with her mother for the sexual attention of her father.
However, it was Carl Jung — Freud’s contemporary — who first called this situation the “Electra complex” in 1913.
Just as the Oedipus complex was named after a Greek myth, so is the Electra complex.
According to Greek mythology, Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, killed Agamemnon, Electra persuaded her brother Orestes to help her kill both her mother and her mother’s lover.
According to Freud, all people go through numerous stages of psychosexual development as children. The most important stage is the “phallic stage” between the ages of 3 and 6.
According to Freud, this is when both boys and girls become fixated on the penis. Freud argued that girls fixate on their lack of a penis and, in its absence, their clitoris.
In a girl’s psychosexual development, Freud proposed, she’s first attached to her mother until she realizes she doesn’t have a penis. This causes her to resent her mother for “castrating” her — a situation Freud referred to as “penis envy.” Because of this, she develops an attachment to her father.
Later, the girl identifies more strongly with her mother and emulates her behavior out of fear of losing her mother’s love. Freud called this a “feminine Oedipus attitude.”
Freud believed this was a crucial stage in a young girl’s development, as it leads her to accept gender roles and understand her own sexuality.
Freud proposed that the feminine Oedipus attitude was more emotionally intense than the Oedipus complex, so it was repressed more harshly by the young girl.
This, he believed, led to women being less self-confident and more subservient.
Carl Jung expanded on this theory by labeling it the “Electra complex.” However, this label was rejected by Freud, who said it was an attempt to analogize the Oedipus complex between the sexes.
Since Freud believed there were crucial differences between the Oedipus complex and the feminine Oedipus attitude, he didn’t believe they should be conflated.
Initially, the girl is attached to her mother.
Then, she realizes she doesn’t have a penis. She experiences “penis envy” and blames her mother for her “castration.”
Because she wants to sexually possess a parent and she can’t possess her mother without a penis, she tries to possess her father instead. At this stage, she develops subconscious sexual feelings toward her father.
She becomes hostile toward her mother and fixated on her father. She might push her mother away or focus all her attention on her father.
Eventually, she realizes she doesn’t want to lose her mother’s love, so she becomes attached to her mother again, emulating her mother’s actions.
By emulating her mother, she learns to follow traditional gender roles.
In puberty, she’ll then start becoming attracted to men who aren’t related to her, according to Freud.
Some adults, Jung noted, could regress to the phallic stage or never grow out of the phallic stage, leaving them sexually attached to their parent.
The Electra complex isn’t widely accepted in psychology nowadays. As with many of Freud’s theories, the feminine Oedipus attitude complex and the notion of “penis envy” is also widely criticized.
Very little data actually supports the idea that the Electra complex is real. It’s not an official diagnosis in the the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
As a 2015 paper points out, Freud’s ideas about psychosexual development have been criticized as outdated because they rely on century-old gender roles.
The concept of “penis envy” has, in particular, been criticized as sexist. The Oedipus and Electra complexes also imply that a child needs two parents — a mother and a father — to develop properly, which has been criticized as heteronormative.
That said, it’s possible for young girls to experience sexual attraction toward their fathers. It’s just not as universal as Freud and Jung believed it to be, according to many in the field.
The Electra complex is no longer a widely accepted theory. Most psychologists don’t believe it’s real. It’s more a theory that’s become the subject of jokes.
If you’re concerned about your child’s mental or sexual development, reach out to a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or child psychologist. They can help guide you in a way that may settle your concerns.
Definition, Freud, Examples, Symptoms, and More
The Electra complex is a term used to describe the female version of the Oedipus complex.
It involves a girl, aged between 3 and 6, becoming subconsciously sexually attached to her father and increasingly hostile toward her mother. Carl Jung developed the theory in 1913.
Sigmund Freud, who developed the Oedipus complex theory, first developed the idea that a young girl child competes with her mother for the sexual attention of her father.
However, it was Carl Jung — Freud’s contemporary — who first called this situation the “Electra complex” in 1913.
Just as the Oedipus complex was named after a Greek myth, so is the Electra complex.
According to Greek mythology, Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, killed Agamemnon, Electra persuaded her brother Orestes to help her kill both her mother and her mother’s lover.
According to Freud, all people go through numerous stages of psychosexual development as children. The most important stage is the “phallic stage” between the ages of 3 and 6.
According to Freud, this is when both boys and girls become fixated on the penis. Freud argued that girls fixate on their lack of a penis and, in its absence, their clitoris.
In a girl’s psychosexual development, Freud proposed, she’s first attached to her mother until she realizes she doesn’t have a penis. This causes her to resent her mother for “castrating” her — a situation Freud referred to as “penis envy.
” Because of this, she develops an attachment to her father.
Later, the girl identifies more strongly with her mother and emulates her behavior out of fear of losing her mother’s love. Freud called this a “feminine Oedipus attitude.”
Freud believed this was a crucial stage in a young girl’s development, as it leads her to accept gender roles and understand her own sexuality.
Freud proposed that the feminine Oedipus attitude was more emotionally intense than the Oedipus complex, so it was repressed more harshly by the young girl. This, he believed, led to women being less self-confident and more subservient.
Carl Jung expanded on this theory by labeling it the “Electra complex.” However, this label was rejected by Freud, who said it was an attempt to analogize the Oedipus complex between the sexes.
Since Freud believed there were crucial differences between the Oedipus complex and the feminine Oedipus attitude, he didn’t believe they should be conflated.
Initially, the girl is attached to her mother.
Then, she realizes she doesn’t have a penis. She experiences “penis envy” and blames her mother for her “castration.”
Because she wants to sexually possess a parent and she can’t possess her mother without a penis, she tries to possess her father instead. At this stage, she develops subconscious sexual feelings toward her father.
She becomes hostile toward her mother and fixated on her father. She might push her mother away or focus all her attention on her father.
Eventually, she realizes she doesn’t want to lose her mother’s love, so she becomes attached to her mother again, emulating her mother’s actions. By emulating her mother, she learns to follow traditional gender roles.
In puberty, she’ll then start becoming attracted to men who aren’t related to her, according to Freud.
Some adults, Jung noted, could regress to the phallic stage or never grow out of the phallic stage, leaving them sexually attached to their parent.
The Electra complex isn’t widely accepted in psychology nowadays.
As with many of Freud’s theories, the feminine Oedipus attitude complex and the notion of “penis envy” is also widely criticized.
Very little data actually supports the idea that the Electra complex is real. It’s not an official diagnosis in the the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
As a 2015 paper points out, Freud’s ideas about psychosexual development have been criticized as outdated because they rely on century-old gender roles.
The concept of “penis envy” has, in particular, been criticized as sexist. The Oedipus and Electra complexes also imply that a child needs two parents — a mother and a father — to develop properly, which has been criticized as heteronormative.
That said, it’s possible for young girls to experience sexual attraction toward their fathers. It’s just not as universal as Freud and Jung believed it to be, according to many in the field.
The Electra complex is no longer a widely accepted theory.
Most psychologists don’t believe it’s real. It’s more a theory that’s become the subject of jokes.
If you’re concerned about your child’s mental or sexual development, reach out to a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or child psychologist. They can help guide you in a way that may settle your concerns.
V Relations with father. Freud's theory (collection)
V
Relationship with father
Freud's relationship with his father was the exact opposite of his relationship with his mother. His mother adored and spoiled him, allowing him to reign among his brothers and sisters, while his father was a more impartial, albeit non-aggressive person. Characteristic is this fact: when Freud was still urinating on the bed at the age of two, it was his father, not his mother, who reprimanded him. And what did the little boy say? "Don't worry, dad, I'll buy you a beautiful new red bed in Neutitschein" (quoted from [7; Vol. 1; 7]). There is already a noticeable trait that will characterize Freud in later life: the rejection of criticism, complete self-confidence, rebellion against his father, and also, one might argue, against paternal authority.
At the age of two, Freud ignores his father's reproaches and assumes a fatherly role - the role of someone who can later give a gift in the form of a bed (for comparison: see the dream of a coat with Turkish embroidery [7; Vol. 1; 10– eleven]).
A sharper expression of Freud's rebellion against his father can be seen in the fact that at the age of seven or eight Freud deliberately urinated in his parents' bedroom. It was a symbolic act of capture, a manifestation of aggression, clearly directed against the father. The father got angry, which is understandable, and exclaimed: “Nothing will ever come of this boy!” Freud, commenting on that event, wrote: “This must have been a terrible blow to my ambitions, because allusions to that scene appear again and again in my dreams, constantly accompanied by an enumeration of my merits and successes, as if I wanted to say: “You see, something of me still turned out!” [four; 216].
Freud's explanation was that his father's remark was the cause of his ambition; this is a frequently encountered erroneous orthodox analytic interpretation.
While it is no doubt true that early experience is one of the most important causes of later development, it is not uncommon for a child's acquired or inherited behavior to provoke a parental reaction which is subsequently often mistaken for the manifestation of that very predisposition in later life of the child.
In this case, it is clear that the two-year-old Freud already had a sense of his own importance and superiority over his father. Whether we are dealing here with a constitutional factor or with the result of the mother being the stronger of the two parents, Freud's provocative action at the age of seven is just another expression of the complete self-confidence that Freud retained throughout his life; the father's remark was a very mild reaction from a completely non-aggressive man, who, according to Jones, was usually very proud of his son and was not in the habit of criticizing or belittling him. A remark - and a single one at that - could hardly be the reason for Freud's ambition.
The feeling of superiority towards the father must have been reinforced when the father told the twelve-year-old Freud about the following incident. Once, when Freud's father was still young, a passer-by knocked off his hat and shouted: "Jew, get off the sidewalk!" When the boy Freud indignantly asked: "And what did you do?", the father replied: "He went down to the pavement and raised his hat." Retelling this incident, Freud added: “This behavior of a big strong man holding a little boy by the hand seemed to me not at all heroic. I contrasted it with a situation that I liked more: the scene when Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, makes his son swear before the house altar to take revenge on the Romans. Since then, Hannibal has taken a firm place in my fantasies” [4; 197]. It is hard to doubt that the unheroic behavior of his father would not have caused such disgust on the part of Freud if he had not identified himself with Hannibal since childhood; the boy wanted his father to be worthy of him.
However, it should not be forgotten that Freud's ambitions, as often happens, were an integral part of his extraordinary gift - unbending courage and pride. Such courage formed in Freud's childhood qualities - and ideal - of the hero, and the hero could not help but be ashamed of such a weak father.
Freud himself hints at his indignation that his father was not a more important person when interpreting one of his dreams: “The fact that in this dream scene I can use my father to obscure the professor of psychiatry from the University of Vienna, Meinert , is explained not by the discovered analogy between the two people, but by the fact that it is a short but adequate representation of the conditional sentence in the thoughts during sleep, which in full form would be read like this: “Of course, if I belonged to the second generation, if I was the son of a professor or a privy councillor, I would have made progress sooner.” In a dream, I made my father a professor and privy councillor” [4; 438].
Freud's ambivalence about the father figure is also reflected in his theoretical writings. Reconstructing the beginning of human history in "Totem and Taboo", he depicts a prehistoric father killed by his sons, and in his last work, "Moses and Monotheism", he denies that Moses was a Jew and makes him the son of an Egyptian nobleman, thereby unconsciously asserting : "Just as Moses was not a descendant of humble Jews, so I am not a Jew, but a man of royal blood"[7]. The most significant expression of Freud's ambivalent relationship to the father is, of course, in one of the central concepts of Freud's entire system, the Oedipus complex: the son hates his father as a rival claiming his mother's love. Here, however, as in the case of attachment to the mother, the sexual interpretation obscures the true and fundamental causes. The desire for unlimited love and adoration from the mother, and at the same time the desire to be a victorious hero, leads to the assertion of superiority both over the father and over brothers and sisters.
(This is most clearly reflected in the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers; one might even be tempted to call this complex "the Joseph complex.") This attitude is often reinforced by the mother's reverence for her son, combined with her ambivalent, belittling attitude towards her husband.
So what do we find? Freud was deeply attached to his mother, convinced of her love and admiration, he felt like a superior, unique, adored being, a king among other offspring. He remained addicted to his mother's love and admiration—and felt anxious, restless, and depressed when they were denied him. Although Freud's mother remained a central figure until her death in her nineties, and although the wife was expected to act as a mother, taking care of Freud's material needs, his need for adoration and protection turned to new objects, mainly men, not on women. People like Breuer, Fliess, Jung, and later loyal followers provided Freud with the admiration and support he needed to feel secure.
As is often the case with mother-bound men, his father was his rival; Freud the son wanted to be a father and a hero himself. Perhaps if his father had been a great man, Freud would have recognized his superiority or shown less rebelliousness. However, Freud, identifying himself with the heroes, had to rebel against a father who would only be suitable for an ordinary person.
Freud's rebellion against his father had to do with one of the most important aspects of Freud's personality as far as his work was concerned. Freud is generally seen as a rebel. He rebelled against public opinion and medical authorities; without the capacity for such confrontation, he would never have arrived at and announced his views on the unconscious, infantile sexuality, etc. However, Freud was a rebel , but not a revolutionary . By a rebel, I mean a person who fights against existing authorities, but wants to come to power himself (and subjugate others), who does not deny dependence on authority and respect for it per se[8].
His rebelliousness is directed mainly against those in power who do not recognize him; he is friendly towards the authorities he has chosen, especially if he becomes one of them. Rebels of this type, in a psychological sense, can be found among many radical politicians who rebel until they come to power and, having gained it, become conservative. A "revolutionary" in the psychological sense is a person who has overcome his ambivalence towards power, freed from its attraction and desire to dominate. He gains true independence and gets rid of the desire to control others. In a psychological sense, Freud was precisely a rebel, not a revolutionary. Although he defied authority and enjoyed it, he also had a deep reverence for the established social order and for those in authority. It was extremely important for him to receive the title of professor and achieve recognition from existing authorities, although due to a strange misunderstanding of his own desires, he denied this [4; 192]. During the First World War he was a fierce patriot, proud first of the Austrian and then of the German aggressiveness; for almost four years it did not occur to him to take a critical look at the military ideology and goals of the belligerents.
This text is an introductory fragment.
Chapter Fifty-one DISTRIBUTION RELATIONS AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
chapter fifty one DISTRIBUTION RELATIONS AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS Thus, the value newly added annually by means of the newly added labour, and consequently also the part of the annual product in which this value is represented, which may be 90,003
a) Connection of the union "as" as a structural moment of the relation and members of the relation with the predicative sentence
a) The connection of the union "as" as a structural moment of the relation and the members of the relation with the predicative sentence But what incongruity (Unangemessenes) could creep into the old concepts? We said: the world is the disclosure of beings as such as a whole.
We have previously pointed out that
28. Sexual relations
28. Sexual relations We have deliberately separated the problem of family and marriage as a social problem, from a personal sexual problem. Let us repeat once again that this division, with the exception of special cases that were abnormal and illegal in the traditional world, becomes
TOOL RATIO
INSTRUMENTAL RELATIONS The Hephaestus man, disappointed in human relations, may prefer to communicate with animals - friendly and, in his opinion, partner. Or surround yourself with many useful mechanisms. Such are the eccentric collectors who collect
FOLLOWING FATHER…
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Following his father, as if to atone for a crime within the family or as proof of his loyalty to his parent, he goes to rule
Fighting with father
Fight with father Hiawatha fights with his father - the immortal Lord of the Winds. During the struggle, it turns out that their strengths are equal, although Hiawatha has not yet become immortal. Just like Hercules, he has superhuman strength and with this strength he performs feats, destroys monsters, immerses
Relations with people
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Healing relationships
Healing Relationships Most of us automatically associate the word "feelings" with close and intimate relationships, because these relationships represent the main area of life in which we comprehend our emotions.
In practice, relationships with loved ones can
Fighting with father
Fight with father Hiawatha fights with his father - the immortal Lord of the Winds. During the struggle, it turns out that their strengths are equal, although Hiawatha has not yet become immortal. Just like Hercules, he has superhuman strength and with this strength he performs feats, destroys monsters, dives
Effortless Relationships
Effortless relationships Relationships are probably the most difficult thing in our lives. From battles with colleagues, to the history of defeat and victory with our important life partners, to the difficulties and miracles of parenting. Each relation has become a multi-layered subject, consisting of values past
Relationships with others
Relationships with others One of the hardest questions for anyone trying to change their life is: "What if others in my life don't want to simplify?" This is a surprisingly common problem and no one has a simple answer.
However, there are things you can
V Relationship with father
V Relationship with father Freud's relationship with his father was the exact opposite of his relationship with his mother. His mother adored and spoiled him, allowing him to reign among his brothers and sisters, while his father was a more impartial, albeit non-aggressive person. The following fact is characteristic:
Was Freud a good father?
Parents
With daughter Sophie, 1912
Sigmund Freud's letters to children (1907–1939). Unpublished Correspondence" and "Correspondence 1904-1938 of Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud" change the established view of Freud. These books have not yet been published in Russian, but have already been published in France.
And thanks to them, we see not a stern scientist, but a shrewd man with a lively sense of humor and an enthusiastic father who writes shortly after the birth of his eldest daughter Matilda: “My baby is developing remarkably, and know that she sleeps at night, which any father can be proud of! »
Freud named children after people he loved.
For example, Mathilde (1887–1978) was named after the wife of Josef Breuer, a colleague and close friend of Freud. And the eldest son Jean Martin (1889-1967) was named after the outstanding neurologist Jean Martin Charcot, with whom Freud studied in Paris. The name of the middle son Olivier, nicknamed Oli (1891–1969), was reminiscent of Freud's passion for the English commander and Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.
The younger son Ernst (1892–1966) became the namesake of the physiologist Ernst Brücke, a professor at the University of Vienna who supported Freud at the beginning of his career. Middle daughter Sophie (1893–1920) was named after the wife of his grandfather's close friend, Freud's father.
The younger Anna (1895–1982) most likely owes her name to the daughter of Freud's favorite Hebrew teacher.
Sophie was famous for her beauty, but Matilda's appearance did not cause great enthusiasm. She liked to read and listen to opera, she highly valued her father's ideas and herself dreamed of a research activity, for which, alas, she lacked the ability.
In the footsteps of her father, the younger and more persistent daughter Anna managed to follow. However, she had to fight for the right to become his student and get recognition from his lips: growing old, he would call her his Antigone, the name of the daughter of the Theban king Oedipus.
Freud coped well with his father's role. At least if we accept the psychoanalytic definition of a "good father"
Freud did not insist that all six of his offspring become psychoanalysts. Martin trained as a lawyer. Oli is an engineer, but he had to come close to psychoanalysis when he was diagnosed with obsessive neurosis. Ernst became an architect.
It can be said that Freud coped well with his father's role. At least if we accept the psychoanalytic definition of a “good father”: a person who is able to establish authority, set guidelines, while respecting the individuality of his children and allowing them to develop in their own way.
With daughter Anna and granddaughter Eva, 1927
From autumn to spring, Freud worked tirelessly from dawn to dusk. He saw patients or retired to his office to meditate and take notes, silent, with a perpetual cigar in his mouth. However, in the summer the whole family gathered in a country house, and family ties were restored.
Numerous letters indicate that the entire Freud family was extremely fascinated by mountains, forests, nature and its inhabitants.
The children were not directly involved in their father's activities, but they were not completely aloof either: they knew most of his colleagues and patients. Freud did not impose anything on his offspring, they naturally joined the "daddy's therapeutic method." As a child, Martin was very proud of being "the eldest son of Sigmund Freud".
Early writings show that Freud refers to children as young adults, endowed with individuality, ready for marriage or marriage.
No moralizing on the part of the father, no forbidden topics.
When talking about health with his daughters, Freud does not hesitate to mention menstruation and describe the diseased body in its most unsightly manifestations.
Respect does not prevent frankness - he explains to Matilda that many of his students and patients dream of marrying her because of the transference mechanism: the emotional bond that arises between the patient and the therapist makes them feel tender feelings for his daughter. So she should not build illusions.
His generosity is based on the belief that his children do not need anything
In 1912, Freud writes to Sophie's fiancé, photographer Max Halberstadt, with his usual sense of humor: “My little Sophie returned peaceful, happy, without a shadow of doubt and told you that she was engaged to you. We realized that we had no choice but to complete the formalities and give our blessing. Our only desire has always been that our daughters give love in accordance with their free choice, as our eldest did, so we can only rejoice at this event.
Freud expresses his opinion about the choice of his children, but never allows himself to forbid or restrain their desires. He knows how to warmly accept their spouses, so that they never feel like "second-class" members of the family.
"Stay together" is Freud's motto, which helps him to keep his presence of mind in the most difficult moments, during illness or the Nazi threat. In his letters to children, he almost always writes "we" or "me and mom." And this is a decisive blow to the theory that Freud was a patriarchal misogynist and did not put his wife Martha in anything.
He provides financial support to his children and grandchildren, even adults, if they are unemployed or do not have enough money for treatment. Freud himself lacked support during his studies and at the beginning of his professional career, and he wants to help his children. There is no sense of superiority in this. His impeccable generosity is based on "that knowledge of a Jewish father, which he needs like air in life and in death - the confidence that his children do not need anything.
"
Family dinner, 19Year 15
When Sophie died of influenza pneumonia in 1920, Freud lost the will to live. He could not forget his daughter and kept her portrait in a locket. But three years later he suffered a new loss - his beloved grandson Heinerle tragically disappeared.
Freud fell into despair because "there was not a single human being, and even less a child, who would be as dear to him as this boy."
Freud wrote regularly to the spouses of his children and maintained contact with Max Halberstadt until his death. On November 19At the age of 28, he, already an old and sick man, writes to his son Ernst: “It was a precious experience for me to understand how much you can learn from your own children.”
Anna, "only daughter"
Unwanted child, Anna was born in the same year as psychoanalysis, in 1895. And subsequently she did everything to become indispensable for her father, who did not want her to be born.
“Recently I had a dream that you were a king and I was a princess and there was a war between us,” she wrote to her father on August 1915 years.
Was it an echo of the Oedipus complex, when the daughter wants to overcome her rival mother? Freud eventually referred to Anna as his "only daughter".
The unpublished correspondence between father and daughter has a professional feel to it. Anna became the first woman in the family who received a profession: she studied to be a school teacher. In 1918, she begins to be analyzed by her father.
According to many experts today, this practice borders on incest. But let's not forget that at that time it was a common occurrence. The first analysts analyzed their children, spouses, lovers.
Psychoanalysis made Anna aware that her libido was directed towards women. Freud, the inventor of the revolutionary theory of sexuality, was horrified at the thought that his daughter was a lesbian. To turn her away from this tendency, which frightened Anna herself, Freud encourages her intellectual work.
Eventually, with the support of her father, Anna became the head child psychoanalyst of the Vienna School and lived her life with her friend Dorothy Burlingham.
