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I SHALL REPORT A DEFENSIVE constellation I encountered in patients who had experienced the trauma of prolonged and unremitting handling of the genitals by the mother. I call this treatment of the child by the mother "maternal incest"; I will give my reasons for doing so later in the paper. Here I wish only to call attention to the fact that it was concerning the ubiquitous reports of incestuous experiences with the father that Freud developed the concept of the Oedipus complex and furthered his understanding of defense. I shall not review the evolution of Freud's refinements of the concept of defense and resistance but will instead focus on this particular defense and its vicissitudes.
The early writings of Breuer and Freud (1883-1895) and Freud (1896) stressed the neurosogenesis of childhood incestuous