Revue Française De Psychanalyse. XLV, 1981: The Oedipal Conflict, Its Outlines and Its Role in the Development of Psychic Functions. Eulalià Torras de Beà Pp. 679–766.

Freud's view of the oedipal conflict as the cornerstone of psychic development is currently being questioned because we now recognize patients who present with seemingly oedipal conflicts, but whose anxieties and defenses are more primitive than those usually associated with oedipal organization. Some authors suggest that the oedipal conflict is merely an option, which an individual may or may not enter. Many analysts have found it too narrow to be the basis of development. Some merely cite the oedipal conflict while the reasons for its importance are only assumed. Mme. De Beà considers it basic, but dates its commencement back to the beginning of life when self-object differentiation is developing. The infant perceives its life as a relationship with two objects, one good and one bad. An extreme splitting characterizes these primitive libidinal and aggressive impulses. There are pregenital anxieties and the fear of castration, as in the fear of being destroyed or annihilated. This primitive conflict is the basis, Mme. de Beà argues, for all subsequent conflict. There is continuity between primitive oedipal conflict with its schizo-paranoid character and the more evolved oedipal conflict with advanced defenses