{"title":"Oedipus and Narcissus: Brothers in defeat?","authors":"Ralph Holtom, Gilly Stiffell","doi":"10.1111/bjp.12980","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper looks at those resolutions of the Oedipal situation that are characterised as defeat or triumph. We argue that both are defeats and the situation best resolves when intergenerational rivalry is contained and supportive co-operation is dominant. We are struck by the Narcissistic quality we find especially in triumph and note that Oedipus and Narcissus both lived in a false reality constructed to avoid the shame of their own rejection. We are especially concerned about what happens when the child builds a life based on either defeating or being defeated by the same-sex parent and how this appears and may find resolution in analytic psychotherapy. We consider the situation for the girl as well as for the boy and feel there are important distinctions that warrant further thought. Anonymised clinical material is provided to exemplify how this may play out in life and in our practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":54130,"journal":{"name":"British Journal of Psychotherapy","volume":"41 3","pages":"560-573"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"British Journal of Psychotherapy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjp.12980","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper looks at those resolutions of the Oedipal situation that are characterised as defeat or triumph. We argue that both are defeats and the situation best resolves when intergenerational rivalry is contained and supportive co-operation is dominant. We are struck by the Narcissistic quality we find especially in triumph and note that Oedipus and Narcissus both lived in a false reality constructed to avoid the shame of their own rejection. We are especially concerned about what happens when the child builds a life based on either defeating or being defeated by the same-sex parent and how this appears and may find resolution in analytic psychotherapy. We consider the situation for the girl as well as for the boy and feel there are important distinctions that warrant further thought. Anonymised clinical material is provided to exemplify how this may play out in life and in our practices.
期刊介绍：
The British Journal of Psychotherapy is a journal for psychoanalytic and Jungian-analytic thinkers, with a focus on both innovatory and everyday work on the unconscious in individual, group and institutional practice. As an analytic journal, it has long occupied a unique place in the field of psychotherapy journals with an Editorial Board drawn from a wide range of psychoanalytic, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, psychodynamic, and analytical psychology training organizations. As such, its psychoanalytic frame of reference is wide-ranging and includes all schools of analytic practice. Conscious that many clinicians do not work only in the consulting room, the Journal encourages dialogue between private practice and institutionally based practice. Recognizing that structures and dynamics in each environment differ, the Journal provides a forum for an exploration of their differing potentials and constraints. Mindful of significant change in the wider contemporary context for psychotherapy, and within a changing regulatory framework, the Journal seeks to represent current debate about this context.
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