Psychopathology I: Neurotic-Level Character and Symptom Disorders

Second Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2022-23, 3rd Trimester — Fridays, 1:45-3:15pm
Michael Pauly, MD
Kelly Lippman, LMHC

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April 14, 2023 — Oedipus Revisited

[51 pages]

Balsam challenges the myth of Oedipus as universal and offers alternate ways of conceptualizing female development and triangulated object relations.

Nathans aims to revitalize Oedipal theory, divorcing it from its historical heteronormative bias, and highlighting its relevance for working with couple and family relationships, including LGBTQ and single parent households. She extends in an accessible way Britton’s idea of triangularity and the developmental importance of experiencing the complexity and bearing the pain associated with triangularity.

Kohut is included as an optional read (last four pages only) in an effort to include a self-psychological way of understanding what Kohut would refer to as the Oedipal situation and the role that healthy, cohesive primary caretakers (self-objects) responding with pride and affection rather than competition and seduction plays in facilitating healthy sexuality and aggression in the developing child.

Balsam, R.H. (2015). “Oedipus Rex: Where are We Going, Especially with Females?” Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 84(3):555-588.

Nathans, S. (2021) Oedipus for Everyone: Revitalizing the Model for LGBTQ Couples and Single Parent Families. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 31(3):312-328.

Optional Reading

Kohut, H. (1982). Introspection, Empathy, and the Semi-Circle of Mental Health. Int. J. Psycho-Anal. 63:395-407.

(Last 4 pages only.)