The Concept Of ‘Early Triangulation’ As A Key To A Unified Model Of Hysteria

On the basis of a subtle and critical use of the concepts of separation and triangulation, this paper develops a psychodynamically unified model of the multi-faceted phenomenology of hysteria in both women and men. It offers an explanation for the manner in which pre-oedipal and oedipal factors interact in hysteria. The fundamental conflict in malignant and benign hysterias is assumed to have the same content, the severity of the disturbance being determined by qualitative and quantitative factors (specific relational constellations, specific forms of traumatisation, and the subject's age, maturity and ability to cope with the relevant problems). The fundamental conflict common to all hysterias is deemed to lie in the subject's attempt to utilise oedipal triangulation in the context of a sexualised form of relationship with the parent of opposite sex, in order to obtain by force the missing early (pre-oedipal) triangulation (in the case of female hysterics) or to secure a substitute for it (in male hysterics), and thereby to achieve the separation from the mother that could not originally be negotiated. Traumatisations and typical defensive constellations associated with this neurotic attempt at resolution are described. The same theoretical approach makes it possible to understand the interactional function of conversion symptoms, and at the same time to consider their significance for this specific neurotic configuration.