This article focuses on the importance of sibling relations in the development of script and in the evolution of erotic and sexual sensibilities. Freud's original view on the early development of sexuality and aggression was focused on the vertical, in particular, on the dynamics of the father-son relationship as highlighted by the Oedipus complex. It took almost a century to raise awareness about the importance of the lateral, that is, sibling dynamics. In family therapy and in psychoanalysis, this is increasingly discussed. Script theory can adapt the sibling dimension conceptually, but a change in attitude is needed to view sibling dynamics as an important force for differentiation in developing identity. This differentiation is not from parents, but from siblings, although dynamics with parents continue to play a central role.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BenjaminJ. (1988). The bonds of love: Psychoanalysis, feminism, and the problem of domination. New York: Pantheon Books.
2.
BerneE. (1963). The structure and dynamics of organizations and groups. New York: Grove Press.
3.
BerneE. (1970). Sex in human loving. New York: Simon & Schuster.
4.
BerneE. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?: The psychology of human destiny. New York: Grove Press.
5.
ChodorowN. (1978). The reproduction of mothering: Psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender. Berkeley: University of California Press.
6.
ColesP. (2003). The importance of sibling relationships in psychoanalysis. London: Karnac.
CornellW. F. (1988). Script life theory: A critical review from a developmental perspective. Transactional Analysis Journal, 18, 270–282.
9.
FestingerL. (1954). A theory of social comparison process. Human Relations, 7, 117–140.
10.
FonagyP. (2001). Attachment theory and psychoanalysis. New York: Other Press.
11.
FreudS. (1973). Anxiety. In FreudS. (StracheyJ., Trans.), Introductory lectures in psychoanalysis (pp. 440–460). New York: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1916).
12.
GouldingR. L.GouldingM. M. (1976). Injunctions, decisions and redecisions. Transactional Analysis Journal, 6, 41–48.
13.
HarleyK. (2006). A lost connection: Existential position and Melanie Klein's infant development. Transactional Analysis Journal, 36, 252–269.
14.
HofstedeG. (1991). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. Amsterdam: Contact.
15.
JamesM. (1998). Perspectives in transactional analysis. San Francisco: TA Press.
16.
JorgensenE.JorgensenH. (1984). Master gamesman: A transactional biography. New York: Grove Press.
17.
JungC. G. (1970). Psychoanalysis and neurosis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18.
LambM.Sutton-SmithB. (Eds). (1982). Sibling relationships, their nature and significance across the lifespan. London: Routledge/Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
19.
LeventhalG. (1970). Influences of brothers and sisters on sex-role behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 452–465.
MitchellJ. (2003). Siblings, sex and violence. Cambridge: Polity Press.
22.
OgdenT. (1989). The primitive edge of experience. New York: Jason Aronson.
23.
SandersR. (2004). Sibling relationships: Theory and issues for practice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
24.
SchachterF. (1982). Sibling deidentification and split- parent identification: A family tetrad. In LambM.Sutton-SmithB. (Eds.), Sibling relationships, their nature and significance across the lifespan (pp. 123–152). London: Routledge/Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
25.
SchwarzJ. (1999). Cassandra's daughter: A history of psychoanalysis in Europe and America. London: Penguin Press.
26.
SolnitA. (1983). The sibling experience. In SolnitA.FreudA.EisslerR. S. (Eds.), The psychoanalytic study of the child (Vol. 38, pp. 281–284). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
27.
SullowayF. (1997). Born to rebel: Birth order, family dynamics and creative lives. New York: Vintage.
28.
SullowayF. (2001). Birth order, sibling competition, and human behavior. In HolcombH. (Ed.), Conceptual challenges in evolutionary psychology: Innovative research strategies (pp. 39–83). Berlin: Springer.
van BeekumS. (2008). Erotic transference as a social defense. Organisational Social Dynamics, 8 (2), 154–168.
31.
VivonaJ. (2007). Sibling differentiation, identity development and the lateral dimension of psychic life. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 55 (4), 1191–1215.
32.
WinnicottD. W. (1996). A clinical example of symptomatology following the birth of a sibling. In StephensR.JohnsJ.RobinsonH. (Eds.), D. W. Winnicott: Thinking about children (pp. 97–101). London: Karnac. (Original work published 1931).
33.
YoungS. (2007). The forgotten siblings. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 28, 21–27.
