BLOMEYER, R. (Berlin). ‘Vom Vatermord und Inzesttabu zur Trennungsangst aus der Symbiosc mit der Mutter. Akzentsetzungen und Verschiebungen in der psycho-analytischen Aussage’. (From patricide and incest-taboo to separation anxiety resulting from the symbiotic relationship to the mother. Focus and shifts of emphasis in psychoanalytic theory and practice.)  Chrysalis, June1, 1985.

This deceptively simple study starts with a description of the Oedipal conflict (Freud: the son's dilemma) and continues with an outline of the much earlier dyadic situation, separation anxiety as the consequence of the symbiotic relationship with the mother (breast). The therapeutic approach to the Oedipal, triangular position is analysis of the early solution, with the aim of replacing conflict relief through repression by conflict relief through insight. The second problem, separation anxiety, requires, in the author's opinion, an empathic response and holding. If these two levels coincide or overlap, a not infrequent occurrence, a variety of difficulties arises, requiring a third approach.

The rest of the paper is concerned with points relating to the third approach which I will summarise briefly as they are relevant to analytical psychology:

1. A tendency to work either with the conflict or with the developmental or maturational disturbance. The choice, according to the author, depends on the personal inclination and make-up of the therapist. Following Neumann, he differentiates between the partriarchal and matriarchal approaches. The development of a third method is difficult: it requires synthesis, marrying elements of the two approaches previously described. The therapist's subjectivity is hostile to this shift.

2. An added difficulty is the ‘must’ quality inherent in the expectations imposed by the prevailing attitude in society.

3. A paradox: responding as a ‘good mother’ can be either a conscious act or the

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   result of reaction formation and false compliance: this would foster further denial and concealment of the patient's destructive impulses which might then express themselves even more destructively in an unconscious way.

4. A shift from the paternal analytic approach to empathic maternal holding results in a loss for the patient: development is hampered. A capacity to be a ‘holding father’ without relinquishing either of the other two attitudes is required in order n