Incest: the Pathological Taboo

Incest: the Pathological Taboo

The little boy wants to kill his father so as to have his mother all to himself. The little girl attempts to push her mother away so as to enjoy her father on her own. This is the oedipus complex, generally accepted as inevitable, even normal. The terminology, however, has not been chosen at random: a complex is a symptom pointing to an illness (depression‐neurosis‐psychosis) which needs treatment. George Dubai, a psychoanalyst from Geneva has put the cat among the pigeons by asking: why accept the fatality of the oedipus complex which gives so much pain to humanity? He states the following:‘The oedipus complex would not develop if parents could accept fully the incestuous feelings of their small child towards them and vice versa’. Dubai attacks the taboo… with a plea for love.

Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental health