Rather than define premature termination in psychotherapy by arbitrary cutoffs of time or sessions, the present investigators utilized direct examination of therapists' reports to study ten patient variables and nine therapist variables. 718 cases of longterm psychotherapy in a private clinic were reviewed and 273 cases judged to be premature terminators. Compared to the general clinic patient population, premature terminators were found to differ significantly as to age, race, referral source, employment, type of payment, presenting complaint, and diagnosis (but not as to sex, residence, or marital status). For 27 psychotherapists, rates of premature termination were tabulated. Ph.D. psychologists were found to have significantly lower rates of premature termination than M.D.s or M.S.W.s. Therapists who had undergone personal therapy showed significantly lower rates than those who had no therapy. Therapists' defense style and life stresses did not relate significantly to rates of premature termination. Results were viewed in terms of motivational Portions of this paper are taken from M. G.'s Ph.D. thesis in clinical psychology, June 1982, University of Detroit. The authors would like to acknowledge the generous editorial assistance of Martin Mayman.Requests for reprints should be sent to Nancy Kulish,
Freud's insights about the oedipus complex have been universalized to include the psychology of the girl. The authors argue that this crucial developmental phase for girls has uniquely feminine characteristics that have not been fully recognized or cohesively incorporated into psychoanalytic theories. This paper addresses these differences, which are based on characteristic patterns of object relationships, typical defenses, and social considerations. The authors argue that "female oedipal" is an oxymoron, and propose that this constellation be named "the Persephone complex" after the Greek myth of Persephone, which seems to capture better the typical situation of the little girl. They focus on the issue of separation and its complicated and necessary role in the triangular situation of females. Using illustrations from clinical material, the authors argue that the frequent appearance of separation material linked to triangular heterosexual competitive fantasies can and should be differentiated from material in which ideas about separation stem from dyadic and earlier issues. Misunderstanding how these separation conflicts tie into triangular "oedipal" relationships can lead to a "preoedipalization" of the dynamics of girls and women.
This paper examines and explores the manifestations of aggressive impulses in the so-called female oedipal complex. The authors describe how competitive aggression on the part of young girls, seemingly missing in children's stories and myths, is unconsciously inhibited, disguised, or externalized. They report similar phenomena in women patients involved in triangular conflicts, and present a selected review of the literature on the inhibition of aggression within the female triangular situation. Stressing dynamic patterns in the object relationships in the female triangular situation, the authors offer a psychological explanation for this inhibition. They present clinical material to demonstrate how overt murderous and competitive aggression toward the mother appears after considerable analytic work. They conclude that girls and women frequently relinquish a sense of agency over both aggression and sexuality in dealing with triangular conflicts, to preserve a safe relationship with their mothers.
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