Castration is not a metaphor within the array of psychoanalytic theories, but a pathological belief operative in the unconscious, which originated during the period of childhood sexuality. Of the two major anxieties, separation and castration, castration anxiety is the most overlooked in clinical discourse and theoretical awareness.
Castration conflicts have a developmental history and are composed of phases as much as separation-individuation is. These extend from the preoedipal to the oedipal years and beyond and, as separation conflicts, persist throughout life. Clinical material is demonstrated from across the diagnostic spectrum and all developmental levels. Phylogenetic studies are corroborative.
As loss of love is a wider derivative of separation anxiety, castration anxiety radiates out to wider fears of invasion and injury to the body. The transference neurosis is more attuned to encompass separation than castration conflicts. This stratum of psychopathology makes reconstruction and the recovery of historical data indispensable.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Arlow, J. A., & Brenner, C. (1966). The psychoanalytic situation. In Psychoanalysis in the Americas, ed. R. E. LittnanNew York: Int. Univ. Press, pp. 23–43.
2.
Bak, R. C. (1968). The phallic woman. Psychoanal. Study Child, 23:15–36.
3.
Blum, H. P. (1983). The position and value of extratransference interpretation. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 31:587–617.
4.
Blum, H. P. (1991). Sadism in the psychoanalytic process, within and beyond the pleasure principle: a discussion. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 39(2), in press.
5.
Chasseguet-Smirgel, J. (1981). Loss of reality in perversions-with special reference to fetishism. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 29:511–534.
6.
Fenichel, O. (1945). The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis.New York: Norton.
7.
Ferenczi, S. (1924). Thalassa: Theory of Genitality.New York: Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1938.
8.
Ferenczi, S. (1931). Child analysis in the analysis of adults. In Final Contributions to the Problems and Methods of Psychoanalysis.New York: Basic Books, 1955, pp. 126–142.
9.
Freedman, A. (1978). Psychoanalytic study of an unusual perversion. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 26:749–778.
10.
Freud, A. (1936). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence. Writings 2. New York: Int. Univ. Press, 1966.
11.
Freud, A. (1976). Changes in psychoanalytic practice and experience. Int. J. Psychoanal., 57:257–260.
12.
Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. S. E., 7.
13.
Freud, S. (1909). Analysis of a phobia in a five-year-old boy. S. E., 10.
14.
Freud, S. (1913). Totem and taboo. S. E., 13.
15.
Freud, S. (1919). The uncanny. S. E., 17.
16.
Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. S. E., 18.
17.
Freud, S. (1926). Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety. S. E., 20.
18.
Freud, S. (1927). Fetishism. S. E., 21.
19.
Freud, S. (1937). Analysis terminable and interminable. S. E., 18.
20.
Galenson, E., & Roiphe, H. (1974). The emergence of genital awareness during the second year of life. In Sex Differences and Behavior, ed. R. C. Friedman, R. M. Richart, & R. L. Van der WieleNew York: Wiley, pp. 223–231.
21.
Greenacre, P. (1953). Certain relationships between fetishism and faulty development of the body image. Psychoanal. Study Child, 8:79–98.
22.
Greenacre, P. (1968). Perversions. In Emotional Growth.New York: Int. Univ. Press, 1971, pp. 300–314.
23.
Grubrich-Simitis, I. (1988). Trauma or drive-drive and trauma. A reading of Sigmund Freud's phylogenetic Fantasy of 1915. Psychoanal. Study Child, 43:3–32.
24.
Herdt, G. H. (1982). Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea.Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press.
25.
Hermann, I. (1936). Clinging-going-in-search: a contrasting pair of instincts and their relation to sadism and masochism. Psychoanal. Q., 45:5–36, 1976.
26.
Kris, E. (1956). On some vicissitudes of insight in psychoanalysis. Int. J. Psychoanal., 37:445–455.
27.
Lansky, M. R. (1989). The screening function of post-traumatic nightmares. Presentation to Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society, October 19.
28.
Lidz, T., & Lidz, R. W. (1989). Oedipus in The Stone Age: A Psychoanalytic Study of Masculinization in Papua New Guinea.Madison, Conn.: Int. Univ. Press.
29.
Loewald, H. W. (1960). On the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis. In Papers on Psychoanalysis.New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1980, pp. 221–256.
30.
Mahler, M. S. (1968). On Human Symbiosis and the Vicissitudes of Individuation.New York: Int. Univ. Press.
31.
Rangell, L. (1952). The analysis of a doll phobia. Int. J. Psychoanal., 33:43–53.
32.
Rangell, L. (1953). The interchangeability of phallus and female genital. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 1:504–509.
33.
Rangell, L. (1981). From insight to change. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 29:119–141.
34.
Rangell, L. (1989). Discussion of Lansky (1989).
35.
Roipme, H., & Galenson, E. (1972). Early genital activity and the castration complex. Psychoanal. Q., 41:334–347.
36.
Sandler, J., & Freud, A. (1985). The Analysis of Defense: The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense Revisited.New York: Int. Univ. Press.
37.
Suengold, L. (1988). Halo in the Sky.New York: Guilford Press.
38.
Simmel, E. (1944). War neuroses. In Psychoanalysis Today, ed. S. LorandNew York: Int. Univ. Press, pp. 227–248.
39.
Stoller, R. J., & Herdt, G. H. (1981). The development of masculinity: a cross-cultural contribution. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 30:29–59.
40.
Stone, L. (1973). On resistance to the psychoanalytic process: some thoughts on its nature and motivations. Psychoanal. Conlemp. Sci., 2:42–73.
41.
Stone, L. (1981). Some thoughts on the “here and now” in psychoanalytic technique and process. Psychoanal. Q., 50:709–733.
42.
Strachey, J. (1934). The nature of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis. Int. J. Psychoanal., 15:127–159.
43.
Weiss, J., Sampson, H. & the Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group (1986). The Psychoanalytic Process: Theory, Clinical Observations, and Empirical Research.New York: Guilford Press.
