A Girl's Loyalty to her Mother: A Defence Against Oedipal Guilt and an Obstacle to Becoming an Adult

This article is based on an analysis which lasted approximately 10 years. At the beginning of the analysis, the patient was an unmarried university student of 24. She said that she wanted a change in her life. She had been unable to carry on her studies for the past 2 years, she was depressed and lonely, and had had thoughts of suicide. She had difficulty walking in the streets and talking to people. In appearance the patient was a very attractive young woman. When I saw her for the first time, I received the impression that everything in her life had come to a standstill. At the same time, I found her a very pleasant person, full of possibilities. In the following, I shall call the patient Anna.

Anna was the youngest of four children. The two oldest were girls, 10 and 8 years older than Anna. There was also a brother, 5 years older.

When Anna was a young child, the relationship between the mother and father had been a difficult one. They were considering divorce; Anna's mother was in love with another man. Soon after Anna's third birthday, the mother moved to another town, and did not come home for a whole winter. When she returned, the mother lived with the oldest daughter, but used to visit the family home almost every day. Anna recalled at first that her mother lived away from home for a year, but after some years in analysis she began to doubt this, and gradually it emerged that the mother