Oedipus and the Couple

Synopsis:

This title consists of a diverse series of contributions and reflections on couples and the Oedipus complex from leading psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in the couples field. All contributors base their theories on a contemporary Kleinian/object-relations psychoanalytic viewpoint and this helps the reader feel that there is a basic underlying unity to facilitate meaningful links between the ideas and themes in different chapters. The chapters have been organized into three sections. Whilst united in the focus on the Oedipus situation, the individual styles and voices of the authors are very varied. The first three chapters are primarily theoretical. The second section comprises chapters that make use of artistic and cultural themes from the worlds of literature and film to explore Oedipal couple issues. The final section consists of chapters that are specifically clinical in their focus. The manifest focus in most chapters is on the couple, but there are variations on this theme.

Description:

‘The supporting theory, as worked and reworked in successive chapters, is steeped in a broad range of psychoanalytic perspectives and raises some current and important questions. What, for example, determines the choice of a life-long partner? What are the internal conditions necessary for even contemplating such a choice? Other questions are ones that underlie not only work with couples, but also contribute important dimensions to the understanding of individual adult states of mind, children, adolescents, and families.’
- Margot Waddell from the Preface

Contributors:
Andrew Balfour, Sasha Brookes, Francis Grier, Monica Lanman, Lisa Miller, Mary Morgan, Viveka Nyberg, Joanna Rosenthall, Stanley Ruszczynski and Margot Waddell

Notes about the author(s):

Francis Grier is an Associate Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. He is also a Full Member of the Society of Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists. He is a Visiting Research Lecturer at the Tavistock Marital Studies Institute, where he was previously a Senior Marital Psychotherapist and Clinical Lecturer. He has a private practice for individuals and couples. He edited Brief Encounters with Couples: Some Analytical Perspectives, which was published by Karnac in 2001.