When Fathering Fails
Violence, Narcissism, and the Father Function in Ancient Tales and Clinical Analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8333741 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael J Diamond (0000-0002-8827-1440, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-40 |
| Publication date | 2018-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0651 • E-ISSN: 1941-2460 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0003065118761106 |
| PMID | 29543097 |
| OpenAlex | W2899804727 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 36 |
Manifestations of failures in both symbolic and actual flesh-and-blood fathering reveal the inescapable role played by the father’s unconscious transmissions in the ever present triadic matrix. Perelberg’s crucial distinction between the murdered narcissistic father and the dead symbolic father suggests the problematic internalizations that fail to uphold the paternal law required for oedipal resolution. Three father-child narratives derived from classical literature and mythology are presented in order to elucidate significant unconscious paternal fantasies pertaining to lethal rivalry and neglect of the child’s otherness. These narratives suggest how the father’s insufficient management of rivalrous, envious, and murderously aggressive impulses—as well as narcissistic needs that fail to take into account the child’s alterity—combine with the child’s intrapsychic propensities to constrict triangular space and restrict development. Consequently, unavoidable father-child rivalries, absences, neglect, and desires often make it vital to recover the “missing” paternal function in analytic space. A clinical example illustrates the impact of this absence on the analyst’s countertransference
Countertransference · Fantasy · Narcissism · Narrative · Neglect · Oedipus complex · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Unconscious mind · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology
The Work of Psychic Figurability
Experiences in Groups
Commonalities Between the Isaac and Oedipus Myths
Murdered Father, Dead Father
Soul Murder
Lusting for death
Thirdness and Psychoanalytic Concepts
Paternal Function and Thirdness in Psychoanalysis and Legend
Father Hunger and Narcissistic Deformation
The Lethic Phallus
Cedipus at Colonus and the Aged Sophocles
The “As-Yet Situation” in Winnicott’s “Fragment of an Analysis”
Oedipus Rex
The Analyst’s Awkward Gift
Antigone—A Soul Murder
The Elusiveness of Masculinity
Recovering the Father in Mind and Flesh
The Missing Father Function in Psychoanalytic Theory and Technique
The Oedipus complex
A father is being beaten’
Oedipus and the Oedipus complex
The colourless canvas
The Waning of the Oedipus Complex
Masculinity Unraveled
A father to love
A plea for affirmation Relating to states of unmentalised affects
For the Sake of Eternity
Gender, Sex, and the Sexual
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |