On the girl's psychosexual development: reconsiderations suggested from direct observation.

Following on two decades of longitudinal direct observation of young children, revisions of two component parts of psychosexual theory seem warranted. First, direct observation does not support the concept of a "phallic" phase as being representative of the girl's first genital phase. Observational findings challenge "phallic" concept-dependent hypotheses Freud proposed in 1925, including how the girl enters her Oedipus complex as well as the nature of her wish to have a baby. In the children observed by the author, phallic aggression was not manifest as much in girls as in boys, between the ages of two and four. Second, it is proposed we put aside the "phallic" phase concept in our considerations of the girl's dynamics and that we heighten our awareness of her early experiences of ambivalence--which lie at the heart of the oedipal conflict--and which leads to a formulation of superego development in the girl more compatible with clinical findings.

Cruelty begins at home.

The abuse of children is presumed by most mental health professionals to occur at the hands of parents who were themselves harshly traumatized by abuse or neglect. A 14-month-old child is presented who was well treated by his family and developed well until 6.5 months of age, after which, due to traumatization of his mother, the child became neglected and physically abused. In a therapeutic-observational environment, as the child recovered from his massive depression, much explosive destructive behavior not seen in him before was observed. From his past studies and those of other psychoanalysts, the author presents the collectively advanced hypothesis that excessive unpleasure mobilizes hostility in humans and suggests that this hypothesis may be fruitfully applied to explain why the abused become abusers. The hypothesis may also serve to guide the treatment of abused children so as to prevent their becoming tomorrow's abusers. Furthermore, the hypothesis suggests that strategies can be proposed toward preventing child abuse.

An exploration of the relations of instinctual drives and the symbiosis/separation-individuation process.

In this study, attention is drawn first to the fact that, in the complex fabric of development woven by the mutual interactions of ego, id, evolving self, object relations, and life experiences, this study looks only at the interactions of instinctual drives and symbiosis/separation-individuation. The instinctual drives are powerful psychobiological motivating forces, whereas symbiosis/separation-individuation is a developmental process that unfolds during the first three years of life. I have suggested that an upsurge in aggression thrusts the symbiotic-phase child into the separation-individuation phase and process. Material from longitudinal direct observations of two of our project children is presented to document this hypothesis. I have further proposed that, given normal enough developmental conditions, biologically pre-determined differentiations in the instinctual drives trigger the various phases and subphases of symbiosis and separation-individuation during the first three years of life.

On the girl's entry into the Oedipus complex.

Detailed child observational study reveals variable pathways by which the girl enters her Oedipus complex. The data of three normal girls are briefly detailed to demonstrate the path each took. The data reported do not support the generalizability of the 1925 postulate that the girl enters her Oedipus complex by way of her castration complex. It is hypothesized that the girl, as well as the boy, enters the Oedipus complex--given a favorable-enough "expectable environment"--from about two and a half years of age on, compelled by a psychobiologically determined gender-related change in her libido and inherited ego dispositions.