Transpersonal processes and the Oedipal phase of development.
This paper is an extension of previous theoretical work in which a bimodal theory of the psychology of relationships and personality function was elaborated. The two modes are, essentially, the traditional intrapsychic individual mode derived from dyadic and introspective methods of observation, and a transpersonal mode, derived in the main from family and group process observations. The role of projective identification and other so-called primitive mechanisms are explored and their defensive and adaptive role in transpersonal transactions in small and large groups examined. The implications for the theory of the mother-infant relationship, and in particular the separation-individuation phase, is reviewed and the further development of the transpersonal concept summarized. These ideas are developed in an examination of the influence of these processes on Oedipal phase conflicts in an eight-year-old boy, with illustrative case material. The conclusion is drawn that manifest Oedipal phase anxieties and conflicts are frequently, if not always, an expression of transpersonal elaboration in the family group. In these circumstances, the transpersonal processes are defensive rather than adaptive and impair the child's normative individuation and the usual repression and resolution of the Oedipal complex. Freud's study of Little Hans is re-examined from this viewpoint. The implications for therapy are noted.
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D004777:Environment; D005190:Family; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009813:Oedipus Complex; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011385:Projection; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory