Oedipus complex
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈɛdɪpəs ˈkɒmplɛks/
- NSFW
:
complejo de Edipo
- In psychoanalysis, the Oedipus complex describes a boy's feelings of rivalry with his father and attraction to his mother.
- trauma and the Oedipus complex
With the abandonment of the Oedipus complex, a child must, as we can see, renounce the intense object cathexes which he's deposited with his parents.
- With the abandonment of the Oedipus complex, a child must, as we can see, renounce the intense object cathexes which he's deposited with his parents.
Examples
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I think there is an Oedipus complex with Catherine and how she views her son Ty.
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Why don't you analyze my Oedipus complex with my lousy father?
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He had the worst Oedipus complex that I've ever seen.
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As Chiesa points out, a child can speak well before age five, when the Oedipus complex typically wanes.
Academic text (2016) -
He points particularly to Freud's account of the Oedipus complex.
Academic text (1990) -
Freud believed that the Oedipus complex is a key element in a child's psychosexual development.
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Understanding the Oedipus complex is essential for grasping Freud's theories on familial relationships.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A child's strong sexual feelings for a parent of the opposite sex and anger toward the same-sex parent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound links the proper name 'Oedipus'—associated with the myth of killing the father and marrying the mother—with 'complex' as a psychological cluster, so a learner who knows both words can infer a psychological issue involving parental relationships. However, the precise Freudian sense (an unconscious sexual desire for the mother and rivalry with the father) is specialised and culturally/disciplinary, so it is not fully predictable for an average B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Oedipus complex comes from a Greek myth in which Oedipus, not knowing who his parents were, killed his father and later married his mother. Freud used that story to name the idea of a boy's 'hidden wish to be close to his mother and to compete with his father', so the phrase now means this kind of inner family rivalry.