Meetings of the New York Psychoanalytic Society

January 15, 1963. THE EFFECTS OF PREOeDIPAL PATERNAL ATTITUDES ON DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTER. Philip Weissman, M.D.

Dr. Weissman traces the development of important personality traits in two patients to specific and vivid types of father-son play which began in the preoedipal period. One became primarily a 'Loser' (L) and the other primarily a 'Winner' (W). The mothers of both are described as having no outstanding neurotic difficulties or severe pathology; they were benign and passive and confined their contribution to nurturing and physical care. The combination of a very active father and a relatively inactive mother seriously diminished the significance 'and crucial role of the mothers in the function of early object relationships and the usual role of both parents in the resolution of aggressive and libidinal drives'.

When the 'Loser', was two years old, the father would encourage the child to rush at and climb over him, almost like an attack. Then the father would call an immediate halt, scold, and force the child to stand rigidly for a long time. This pattern of play continued until the age of five. 'L's subsequent life history elaborated the sequence of omnipotent victory and annihilating self-inflicted defeats.' Although he had great intellectual ability, he sought success in physical triumph and came into analysis because of impending failure in his academic career. He had some singing talent, but defeated himself by unwise selection of incompetent older teachers, one of whom apparently ruined his voice. Yet he imagined himself singing at the Metropolitan Opera not so much with brilliant artistry as with such power 'that it would shake the chandeliers'. When he seduced a young woman, a fellow student (he assumed the teacher was having an affair with her), his role became that of a submissive cook, nurse, and secretary to the teacher.

The 'Winner's' father, by contrast, encouraged him to defeat parental figures and break many rules of conduct to ins