Object relations and sexual development Early stages of the Oedipus complex

摘要

The author deals with the early stages of the Oedipus complex, its courses and fates, and approaches these developments from an object-relations theory point of view, using a case study for illustration. Following Klein's reflections on the effects of early anxiety situations on male sexual development, she traces connections between the lack of coping with these early stages and the impairment of gender identity, sexual orientation and object relating in her patient. Accordingly, unconscious fantasies about parental coitus, the occurrence of violent fantasies of robbing and destroying mother's womb and overwhelming fears of castration by a threatening unified parental couple determine the inner situation of the child during the oral-sadistic and anal-sadistic stages. Early fantasies of "primal scenes" and resulting insurmountable fears of retribution and loss are examined in terms of their traces in the development of identity and object relations.