Meeting of the Psychoanalytic Society of New England, East

November 4, 1991. SOME NUCLEAR CONFLICTS OF THE INFANTILE NEUROSIS IN FEMALE DEVELOPMENT. Phyllis Tyson, Ph.D.

Before introducing Dr. Phyllis Tyson, Dr. Henry Smith discussed the current psychoanalytic dialogue on female development. Referring to Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, biographer of Anna Freud, he noted that both Young-Bruehl and Dr. Tyson have argued for a plurality of perspectives regarding female development. They, among others, have attempted to re-examine Freud's views of women in the light of his later theories. Dr. Smith posed questions about the complexity and challenges involved in the study of women, asking, "What is the optimal methodology? How do we as clinicians translate new observations or changes in theory from one frame of reference [to] the psychoanalytic consulting room which generates its own particular observational data?" Dr. Smith praised Dr. Tyson for basing her revision of the theory of female development on her clinical observations.

In her presentation, Dr. Tyson argued that the infantile neurosis central to Freudian structural theory constitutes the structural basis for later adult neurosis. She described the infantile neurosis as an intrapsychic organization characterized by "1) an internalized superego, the functioning of which implies internalized conflict so that drive urges arouse anxiety, and 2) an ego structure which is capable of responding to the anxiety signal with internal modification so that appropriate defense and compromise are responses to the anxiety signal." She suggested that castration anxiety may not be the central motivator for superego formation in women. Anxieties caused by fear of object loss and loss of love lead to conflict and compromise at this stage. Issues of gender identity, narcissism, and self-esteem are closely tied to superego development. The ability to make selective identifications with an ideally viewed mother depends upon internalization, compromise, and defense in order to resolve painf