Superego Aspects of Intellectual Achievement

This article proposes a link between the resolution of the Oedipus complex and attitudes toward intellectual achievement. Although the argument is illustrated primarily with examples of clinical work with woman patients, I aim to arrive at a gender-neutral understanding of the development of superego functions. This presentation calls attention to the historic role of traditional psychoanalysts as an agent of a phallocentric culture.

I speak from the point of view of a clinical psychoanalyst who is committed to classical theory and technique. As a scientific physician, I believe this theory ought to be capable of clear and convincing application in the clinical situation. For practical reasons, I must always make an effort to present psychoanalysis in ways that make sense to the intelligent and critical public from which I draw my patients. It follows, then, that if I make an intervention (clarification or interpretation) that proves ineffective, I need to explore the source of that failure not only in the patient but also in my technique, a technique based on my theoretical orientation.

Sigmund Freud's great contribution to the welfare of women was his willingness to listen openly and respectfully to communications that his medical colleagues tended to dismiss as the irrational ravings of hysterical housewives. He was then able to demonstrate that their apparently bizarre symptoms were valid