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The Waning of the Oedipus Complex: Introduction

Key Words: Classic Articles • Psychoanalytic Theory • Oedipus Complex

Hans Loewald, a towering figure in American psychoanalysis, is often regarded as one of the first American ego psychologists who recognized the central importance of object relations. By the time he wrote this seminal paper in 1979, the "widening scope" movement in psychoanalysis was well launched. Many analysts had already reached the conclusion that conflict theory, compromise formation, and the Oedipus complex had limited explanatory value in treating the spectrum of patients appearing in analysts' consulting rooms with more severe psychopathology.

Otto Kernberg and Roy Grinker introduced the concepts of "borderline personality organization" and the "borderline syndrome" in the 1960s. A decade later Heinz Kohut suggested that a new theoretical model was needed to understand the narcissistic personality so often seen in analytic practice. Indeed, in this contribution, Loewald acknowledges, "To a significant extent, psychoanalytic interest has shifted away from this nuclear conflict of the transference neuroses...in which oedipal conflicts are held not to be central, and to narcissistic aspects of classical and character neuroses" (p. 754). Coming from an influential ego psychologist, this statement helped others in mainstream American psychoanalysis to become more flexible in their clinical and theoretical approach to psychoanalytic work.

Loewald's intent in this paper, however, was not simply to document the rise and fall in popularity of the Oedipus complex as an organizing construct in clinical psychoanalysis. He also was using the term waning to describe developmental moments of the life cycle where the triangular oedipal conflicts loosen their grip on the individual. Leowald states: "It is no exaggeration to say that the assumption of responsibility for one's own life and its conduct is in psychic reality tantamount to the murder of the parents, to the crime of parricide, and involves dealing with the guilt incurred thereby" (p. 757).

This view complemented the traditional perspective that the Oedipus complex was ruled by an intense threat of retaliation by the powerful same-sex parent. Leowald turned this object-relational paradigm on its head by suggesting that the real damage, in the child's mind, is inflicted on the parents, not by the parents, at least in fantasy. Resolution of the Oedipus complex, then, involved the symbolic destruction of the parents as libidinal objects.

In Leowald's focus on normal preoedipal experience as an important foundation for the oedipal conflicts that follow, he argued that a psychotic core is always active, even in neurotic patients. He related this core to the earliest vicissitudes of the ambivalent search for primary narcissistic unity and individuation. In this regard, not unlike Kohut, Leowald argued that the oedipal struggles had to be viewed as newer additions of earlier conflicts involving narcissistic strivings associated with the union–individuation dilemma.

Loewald's classic paper, then, heralded a pressing need within classical psychoanalytic thinking to understand more fully what happened before and after the oedipal phase of development. Both the guilt-laden mourning process following the resolution of the Oedipus complex and the narcissistic struggles preceding it joined triangular oedipal conflict at center stage of the psychoanalytic theater. The ensuing 20 years have witnessed a further decline of the oedipal configuration as the centerpiece of psychoanalytic discourse as theoretical pluralism has become ascendant. Hence this classic article represents a pivotal point in American psychoanalysis where a rigid view of psychopathology began to wane and new vistas of understanding became accepted by mainstream psychoanalytic thinkers.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Loewald, H. W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Loewald, H. W. Related Collections Other Psychotherapy