Oedipus Complex in Psychoanalysis

Modern culture has assimilated the discoveries of psychoanalysis so well that it became difficult to realize the scandal that should have arisen because of the idea expressed by Freud to his friend Wilhelm Fliss in a letter dated October 15, 1897: "I discovered in myself, as everywhere, feelings of love for my mother and jealousy for my father, feelings that, as I think, are inherent in all small children (...) If so, then we understand (...) the amazing effect of "Oedipus Rex" (...) the Greek legend captures the compulsion that everyone recognizes, because everyone felt it. Every listener was once an Oedipus in the bud, in the imagination, and he is horrified by the realization of his dream transferred to reality"... The reference to the tragedy of Sophocles gives an accurate definition of drama: this is a story about incest and murder. For the Victorian morality of the late XIX century, such a story might seem delightful as a mythical reference and dramatic fiction; but the statement that even today every person secretly harbors such desires was deeply shocking, and even more so if children were suspected of it, these sweet angels without sexuality and aggressiveness. However, in asserting the universality of this drama, Freud emphasized one of the essential springs of all human history, both individuals and societies. Of course, as we already knew, sexual desire faces prohibitions; if it does not find the means to satisfy, it may be forced to abandon it; other goals may prevail, decorated with more noble justifications... All this was undoubtedly known; but, having established the Oedipus complex as a "nuclear complex of neuroses", and, moreover, placing it at the center of all developed mental functions, Freud argues that this drama is the organizer of mental life. Psychoanalysis offers a general theory of psychological functioning, one of the key elements of which is the Oedipus complex. It is for this reason that it is one of the psychoanalytic concepts best known to the general public and most widespread. The expression "Oedipus complex" denotes a phantasmatic organization, which, in fact, is unconscious because it is repressed. Nevertheless, it has a decisive influence on every person throughout his development and life. The Oedipus complex has undergone a lot of revision and reformulation since it was first proposed, and there is still a lively debate about its role in mental life and in psychoanalysis. Freud himself warned that resistance to his confession was inevitable; he spoke of the “horror of incest” and struggled with his own countertransferences (Hirsch I., 2008) to the passionate, difficult transfers of young patients such as Dora. In this master's thesis, the concept of the oedipus complex is studied at the theoretical and practical level, with references to clinical material. The relevance of this master's thesis presented above allows us to formulate the following goal, object, subject, tasks, hypothesis, as well as the choice of research methods. Object of research: the concept of the Oedipus complex as an integral theoretical construction of the psychoanalytic method used when working with clients of different levels of mental functioning. Subject of research: the influence of the unresolved oedipus complex on the adult life of a person. Research hypothesis: the ability to solve the main dilemmas of the Oedipus complex within the analytical method is one of the key prerequisites for living a satisfying life by a modern person. The purpose of the study: to study the origin, psychoanalytic understanding and applied use of the concept of the Oedipus complex. Research objectives: - to study psychoanalytic views on the concept of the oedipus complex; - to determine the features and differences of the oedipus complex in boys and girls; - using the example of the material of working with a client to investigate the special significance of the concept of the Oedipus complex in understanding the client's psychopathology.