Talk:Oedipus complex

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misleading intro: uncertainty unmentioned

The introduction speaks of the Oedipus complex as a certainty whereas the section “Criticism” speaks of it as hypothetical. The introduction should mention its hypothetical character.--Anareth (talk) 22:14, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

Criticism section not representative of Freud scholarship

I'm not qualified to offer substantial improvements, but I'm familiar enough with the range of 20th and 21st century criticism on Freud to know that a full paragraph devoted to discussion of Grose's No More Silly Love Songs doesn't make sense. This in no way implies criticism of Grose's book - only that there are very influential critical discussions of the Oedipus Complex that should take priority here: Richard Wollheim, Jonathan Lear, Adolf Grunbaum, etc. WilhelmFliess (talk) 06:02, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

Expansion of Criticism

The Criticism section of the article has a banner by Wikipedia that states that the section needs expansion. It has been there since October of 2015. I suggest that the criticism section should be categorized into different sections so that readers and users can better find information on criticism of theory.--Surrealistic Ego (talk) 04:49, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Problems with the description of the Oedipus Complex

I come back here periodically and I'm concerned by the part of this article which describes the Oedipus complex as such: "The positive Oedipus complex refers to a child's unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent and hatred for the same-sex parent. The negative Oedipus complex refers to a child's unconscious sexual desire for the same-sex parent and hatred for the opposite-sex parent."

This is not really an accurate description of the Oedipus complex in Freud. It is unclear to me whether or not the goal of this article is to accurately represent the concept in Freud himself, or to present the ways in which it has changed over the course of psychoanalytic theory. As it stands, though, it is unclear what it is presenting.

Freud focuses initially on the Oedipus complex in boys in the Interpretation of Dreams, arguing that boys wish to sleep with their mothers and kill their fathers. He initially hyothesizes a parallel process in girls without going into detail about it. In his later work, however, he goes into much more detail, with the Oedipal process operating as follows:

In both children, the child is considered undifferentiated from the mother and forming a deep connection with her. The observation of the absence or presence of a penis is recognized either literally or symbolically. In girls, there is a recognition of the lack of a penis, and a sense that they have been castrated. This results in 'penis envy' which results in the girl identifying with the mother and desiring to reclaim the penis through attraction to the father. The boy meanwhile recognizes that his penis can be lost, experiences 'Castration anxiety' and comes to view the male parent as both someone to identify with and a potential threat or competitor with the mother.

Or to put it another way, in Freud, the Oedipus complex refers to the way children of BOTH SEXES experience connection with the mother, and fear of the father (not attraction for the opposite sex parent) but which are resolved differently via penis envy and castration anxiety.

There is no concept in Freud of a negative Oedipus complex, or of an Electra complex of any kind. These concepts are later and should be specifically described as distinct versions of the theory. As it stands, this page seems to be a misrepresentation of the concept.

I have attempted to edit this page with corresponding evidence from Freud and from supporting psychoanalytic works in the past, but every time, the description is returned to one that seems fundamentally incorrect. I'm not sure how to progress, so I'm writing an extensive comment here in the hope that someone can check into this and fix things appropriately.