He Electra complex Is the loving obsession of a daughter by her father who is between 4 and 6 years old. This infatuation leads her to compete with her mother, considering her a rival.
This phenomenon is solved when the girl begins to be afraid to lose the love of its mother, and begins to identify with her.
The concept of"complex", in this case, refers to a variety of feelings that are outside our consciousness that are acquired through childhood experiences. These play a very important role on the development of personality.
It usually appears between 3 and 6 years of age, during the phallic stage defined by Sigmund Freud . It is comparable with Oedipus complex , So that Freud called it"female Oedipus".
The concept"Electra complex"was established by Carl Jung , Psychiatrist and Swiss psychologist, in 1913. It is framed in psychoanalytic theory, and has been used to address issues of female development.
Jung defined the Electra complex as the unconscious sexual desire the girl feels toward her father. Despite the same theory, Freud and Jung emphasized different aspects of this phenomenon.
For example, Freud emphasized the importance of a child's inclination towards the mother at the beginning of development. In addition, it places in a central role the phallus in the development of both the boy and the girl. Jung, on the other hand, did not agree with these ideas.
In general, the Electra complex was not widely accepted by psychoanalysts.
The Greek Myth of Electra
The term Electra complex comes from a Greek myth of the 5th century BC. In this story, Electra and his brother Orestes allied themselves to take revenge on their mother, Citemnestra, and her stepfather for murdering Agamemnon (his father).
Electra appears as the main character in different classics:"The Trilogy of Orestes"by Aeschylus,"Electra"by Sophocles, and"Electra"by Aeschylus. Jung never mentioned which of these works was based on describing the complex.
The stages of psychosexual development
According to Freud, there are different stages in Psychosexual development Where the libidinal energy focuses on different erogenous zones of the child's body.
These are the oral (where the drive is satisfied through the mouth), the anal (is satisfied controlling the intestines), the phallic (the phallus), the latent (where the drives are asleep) and the genital (where Genitality with the couple and reproduction).
Each of them is associated with a certain age range, however, there may arise several conflicts that cause the individual to be"anchored"in any of these stages. This was called"fixation in development"; And produces anxiety, neurosis, homosexuality and problems of adaptation in adulthood.
Freud, drawing on the classic character, established the concept of Oedipus complex to characterize the relationships between the child and his mother.
It identifies the child as a sexual person who, in discovering his sex and that of his parents, searches for one of them in love.
This arises in the phallic stage, since, during that period, children begin to become aware of their bodies and those of other people. They want to explore their nakedness and discover their genitals.
In the child, there is a crush on the maternal figure and hostility toward the paternal. While in the girls one also starts from the love towards the mother, although that later it happens towards the paternal figure.
The resolution of both conflicts is mediated by the fear of ceasing to be loved, and is carried out through identification with the father of the same sex. According to Freud, this process leads children to accept their gender role and to understand their sexuality.
Oedipus complex in the male
To better understand the Electra complex, it is necessary to start with a brief summary of the Oedipus complex male.
In males, it begins by manifesting a seductive attitude towards the mother. At the same time he maintains jealousy and rivalry with the father of the same sex. The child's goal is for the father to disappear, to be able to replace him, since he sees it as an obstacle to fulfill his desires.
Little by little, this union is weakened by the fear of castration. It is assumed that the child at some point realizes that the girls' genitals are smaller. This makes him think that they have been castrated and that this can happen to him.
Then there is the so-called"anguish of castration,"which he can only resolve if he renounces his incestuous desires.
This complex, rather than being solved, is enclosed in the unconscious. Little by little, one moves from rivalry to identification with the father, where the child wishes to be like him and begins to imitate him.
How does the Electra complex originate?
In the case of the girl, the development of the Oedipus complex is somewhat more complex. As you can see, for Freud the anatomy of the genitals is determinant for psychosexual development.
He indicates that in the minds of the little ones there is only one complete genital, the"phallus". They think everyone has a phallus. It is necessary to emphasize that, during the phallic stage, the phallus acquires a meaning. That is, it symbolizes law and power.
Another aspect to be taken into account is that Freud considered the male and female sex to be independent of the genitalia. He spoke of them rather as a subjective classification based on the way each person behaves and how he relates to others.
Once this is understood, we can enter into the female Oedipus complex. At first, the girl is very close to her mother, as are the children. This union is conceived as a sexual attachment, known as"libidinal desire."
When the girl finds the opportunity to compare her genitals with those of a child, she observes that they are small with respect to those of the male and equal to those of her mother. This makes her feel inferior and at a disadvantage, since, without the phallus, the girl can not sexually possess her mother.
For a while he holds on to the hope that his genitals will grow to resemble a phallus. Then the girl begins to think that at first she possessed a penis just like a male, but they"castrated"it, losing that organ of her body.
The difference between the boy and the girl in these stages is that the child fears castration, while the girl believes that she has been castrated. This causes in her the so-called"envy of the penis".
To compensate for the lack of a penis, the girl moves from"envy of the penis"to the"idea of the child". This idea is that his father"give"a son. To achieve this goal, the girl resorts to seduction. He begins to flirt with his father, trying to fascinate him with offerings and gifts, and demanding his attention continuously.
However, the girl realizes that her father can not give himself completely because there is another person: his mother. Thus, she sees the mother figure as an impediment to access her father's love, pretending to replace her.
For this reason, the little girl begins to behave in an increasingly hostile way with her mother, feeling jealous and rejection. This hatred is also because she believes that it was the mother who castrated her, and because of her she does not own the phallus.
Electra complex resolution
Two exists defense mechanisms Who will participate to solve the Electra complex:
- The repression: It is about blocking desires, memories, emotions, impulses and ideas of consciousness.
- The identification: The girl is incorporating to her ego the personality characteristics of her mother.
With the passage of time, the desire to have a penis and to have a son of his father are abandoned, since the girl assumes that they will not be fulfilled.
In addition, it begins to be afraid to lose the love of its mother (according to Freud, the love of the parents towards the children is fundamental for these).
On the other hand, to solve the conflict, the girl must gradually identify with her mother figure. This is possibly an unconscious way of"winning"the father's love, since if he can look like his mother it will be easier to conquer him. In this way, it incorporates features of the mother's personality into her own ego.
If about 8 years the girl begins to imitate her mother, trying to do the same tasks as she, talking like her and using their things, you can say that the Electra complex has been overcome.
Thus, these desires are internalized and locked in some part of the unconscious. According to the theory, they prepare women for their sexual role in the future.
Unresolved Electra Complex
In contrast, if the Electra complex is not resolved, a fixation can be given in the phallic stage. The girl, therefore, would continue to experience the"envy of the penis".
He would continually try to dominate men either through seduction (if he has high self-esteem) or through extreme submission (if his self-esteem is low).
Another indication of the lack of resolution of the Electra complex is the choice of pairs similar to the paternal figure and much older. In addition, difficulties may arise in adequately relating to other women.
Even if they become mothers before this complex is resolved, they might see their daughters as rivals who"steal"their partner's affection.
Symptoms of the unsolved Electra complex
It is possible that, despite being adult women, some are still"papa girls". That is to say, that they present an excessive union with its father, maintaining the rivalry with its mother.
He can go so far as to not even be able to have stable love affairs with other men, since they do not find one like his father. Some of the symptoms are:
- Unexplained feelings of hostility towards the mother, seeing her as guilty of her failures and problems.
- Fantasies about the disappearance of the mother or what would be his life if it did not exist. Often these thoughts cause discomfort in the patient, causing them to avoid thinking about them.
- When your parents fight, no matter what happens, always put aside the father.
- Always think about your father when he is sad or happy.
- At the time of making an important decision, he always thinks first what his father would think and that he would prefer.
- Dissatisfaction or excessive demands with your partner relationships. Your partners may have conflicts with you when you realize that you pay too much attention to your father.
- Their partners usually have physical traits or be very similar to their father, and are usually much older.
In these cases, psychological therapy may be very useful, since on many occasions this problem affects the life of the patient. Being habitual that suffers problems in their social relations or stagnation in their professional or labor career.
Female Oedipus Complex
It should be noted that Freud never accepted that the Oedipus complex and the Electra complex were equated. Freud always pointed out that these processes were different in men and women, and to present them as parallels was a simplification of the problem.
For him the main aspect had to do with castration. While in men the Oedipus Complex first appears and then the fear of castration, in women the process is reversed.
It should also be noted that Freud's research on female sexuality was conditioned by social conventions of gender and class. Women were considered the"second sex", even some patients were considered as"degenerate."
References
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- Freud, S. (1924). The dissolution of the Oedipus complex. Complete Works, 3.
- Rosillo. (S.f.). Electra complex and the impossibility to love. Recovered on December 29, 2016, from Zócalo.com.mx Newspaper.
- Scott, J. (2005). Electra After Freud: Myth and Culture. Cornell University Press.
- The Electra Complex: Symptoms and Treatment. (S.f.). Retrieved December 29, 2016, from Motivational Tips: motivational-tips.com.