What is the Oedipus complex?

Introduction

In terms of psychoanalytic theory, Oedipus complex is said to be a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex. It can be said as with the parent of the same sex, there is an affiliated sense of rivalry which can happen. In the process of normal development, it is often considered as a crucial stage. In the year 1899 in his “Interpretation of Dreams”, this concept was introduced by Sigmund Freud.

The term Oedipus is known to be derived from a Theban hero called Oedipus from a Greek legend. This hero had unknowingly killed his father and had married his mother. The female version of this psychoanalytic behavior is called as “Electra Complex”, another mythological figure who had helped in slaying her mother.

Those children who are in the age bracket between three to five years of age, Oedipus complex is attributed to by Sigmund Freud. When the child would identify with the parent of the same sex, suppress its sexual desires or instincts towards opposite sex parent, and then this stage was known to end. This age is known to pass off harmoniously if the previous relationship was not filled with any kind of traumatic or stressful situations and the relationship with the parents was loving and also if no prohibition nor any case of excessive stimulation was filled in the attitudes of the parent. When there is presence of trauma, then it would lead to occurrence of infantile neurosis. During the child’s adulthood, it is an important forerunner of similar kind of situations or reactions.

Psychosexual Development

The various psychosexual stages of development are:

From birth to one year it was known as the oral zone, from age one to three years was known as anal stage, and from age three to six years was known as phallic stage, age six to attaining puberty is known as the latent period and from puberty onwards to death is known as Genital Stage.

The Oedipus complex was part of the theory of psychosexual stages of development. This theory gave detailed descriptions of the feelings or desires of the child for his/her parent or opposite sex parent. Along with this, there would be jealousy and anger as well towards his or her parent of the same sex. So a boy would compete with his father in order to get the affection of his mother and opposite would happen in case of a girl she would compete with her mother to get the affections of her father.

As per Sigmund Freud, in this theory the same sex parent is viewed as a rival by the children. They would view them as a rival for getting the attention as well as affection from the opposite sex parent. Even though this concept was first mentioned by Freud in his book called "The Interpretation of Dreams", Freud started formally beginning to use this term in the year 1910. The derivation of this name came from the character in the Sophocles play, Oedipus the King, wherein Oedipus Rex had accidentally killed his father and then got married to his mother. In this Greek mythological tale, Oedipus is said to be abandoned during birth and hence was not aware who his parents were. He learnt about his parent’s true identities only after killing his father and then marrying his mother.

Working

The desire of the child for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex was referred to as the Oedipus complex, as per the psychoanalytic theory. This was particularly a boy’s erotic attention towards his mother. By following repressions, this desire is normally kept out of the conscious awareness. But Sigmund Freud believed that this desire still had certain influence over the behavior of the child. This desire played a role in the child’s development.

Freud had suggested that in the phallic stage in terms of the psychosexual development, Oedipus complex played an important role. It was believed by Freud that by successfully completing this stage, the child would be better able to identify itself with the same sex partner. This would then ultimately lead to developed and mature sense of sexual identity. As per this theory, the boy tends to replace the place of his father and the child wishes to possess his mother as his own. The child here would view his father as his rival for getting the affection of his mother.

As mentioned earlier, the Oedipus complex is said to mostly occur in the phallic stage. Mostly, it occurs between the ages of three to five. In forming sexual identity, this phallic stage is said to serve as one of the important points in the child’s life. The child starts to develop a kind of sexual attraction towards his or her opposite sex parent during the initial stages of development. During this stage, there is a sense of hostility towards the same sex parent. In the Oedipus complex, certain behavioral manifestations would include the boy would become possessive about his mother and would tell the father not to kiss or hug his mother. In terms of little girls, at this age they often tend to declare that when they would grow up, they would plan to marry their fathers.

A similar kind of analogue stage in terms of girls is known as Electra Complex wherein the girl starts to feel a certain kind of desire for her father and towards her mother, there is a sense of jealousy. Carl Jung had introduced the term Electra complex for describing how this complex would also manifest in girls. However, Sigmund Freud's opinion was that both boys and girls would experience Oedipus complex however the manner in which both the sexes would experience this feeling would be different.

Freud had also suggested girls develop a certain kind of envy and resentment towards their mother when they get to know that they do not have a penis. They have resentment for bringing them into this world. They feel insufficiently equipped. But gradually, they are able to relate and identify with their own mother and resentment is replaced by this sense of identification. Also, they are able to internalize the various characteristics as well as attributes of the same sex parent. Freud received a lot of flake for his views of female sexuality. One of the psychoanalysts named Karen Horney had also refuted the concept of Freud in terms of penis envy in girls and instead had suggested that men often tend to experience womb envy for the reason that they are unable to bear children. Later, Freud had also admitted that his understanding on women was not complete and perhaps it was less than one can fully realize. He had mentioned that “We know less about the sexual life of girls than the boys. But we need not feel ashamed of this distinction since the sexual life of a woman is often considered as a dark continent for psychology”.

Symptoms

There is enormous amount of love for the opposite sex parent in a child during the Oedipus complex, and the same sex parent is excluded. This itself can be considered as one major symptom or sign of Oedipus Complex. However, one should not keep on doubting when unconditional love is shown.

Few of the below symptoms can help in better identifying the problem apart from love:

• There is brusque or rough kind of attitude shown when it comes to the attitude to the parent of the same sex.
• There is an expressed desire of the child to marry the opposite sex parent.
• Deep kind of affection is often shown by the child. For the parents of the opposite sex, this becomes publicly evident.
• With the parent of the opposite sex, there can be fantasies of imagining having sexual relations, but these fantasies can also be unconscious ones.
• It is perceived that the parent becomes a center or focus in the life of the child.
• There are often instances of ultra-sensitive kind of reactions to the physical or emotional reactions of the parents. It can also be any kind of rejections by the parent. This would carry an unconscious sexual character mostly happening in the early childhood.

If Oedipus Complex is not treated in a timely manner, then it can lead to rise in the incurred difficulties of finding a correct life partner for the child when they become adults, since all of the candidates would be compared as well as levelled off against their parents.

Resolution of Oedipus Complex

Children are known to face certain kind of developmental conflicts at every stage according to Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual development. In order to form a healthy personality as an adult, this conflict is necessary to be resolved. Hence, the child needs to identify with the same sex parent in order to gain successful development of the child into an adult. This will also help to resolve any kind of conflict during the phallic stage of development. But the question that arises in the Oedipus complex theory is how will the child go about getting this resolved for which Freud had suggested that the realistic ego is well aware that the father is way much stronger even though the father would be eliminated by the primal Id. As one may recall again, this primal Id is the primal source of energy. It immediately seeks to satisfy all of the unconscious urges whereas that part of the personality which emerges to mediate between the urges of the primal id as well as the demands of the reality is the ego.

As per Freud, the boy tends to experience what is known as castration anxiety, which is called as a fear of both the literal as well as allegorical emasculation. According to Freud, the child becomes aware of the physical kind of difference between the male and the female as he tends to grow and he would also assume that the female’s penis has been removed and he will believe that as punishment for wanting his mother, his father will also emasculate him. Hence in order for resolving this kind of conflict, there is a defense mechanism called identification that tends to kick in. The super ego is known to form at this point and it also becomes a part of inner moral authority. The father figure gets internalized which tends to strive the suppression of the urges of the primal id and upon these own idealistic standards, it may also make the ego act. Freud explains that in the battle between the primal Id and the Ego, there is retention of the characters of the child’s father by the child's superego and thus, there is suppression of the strong feelings of the Oedipus complex problem. Certain outside influences such as teachings on religion, social norms and any other kind of cultural influences would also help to contribute to the suppression of this Oedipus Complex.

Hence it is out of this that they start judging what is right and wrong and start differentiating things, also their conscience tends to emerge. However, it was also suggested by Freud that it can lead to an unconscious sense of guilt in the mind of the child, if the feelings are suppressed. This guilt can still have an influence over the conscious actions of the individual and may not be something that can be felt overtly.

The bigger question which arises is what if the Oedipus complex does not get resolved? When the conflicts which happen are unresolved at the other psychosexual stages, at those points in the development, a kind of fixation can often result. Freud had suggested that with this kind of conflict, those boys who do not deal with it in an effective manner tend to become too fixated with their mothers whereas in terms of girls, they tend to become too fixated with their father. Hence, when they become adults, they would tend to seek out romantic partners who closely resemble their opposite sex parent.