An incestuous development: A study of severe psychopathology in a fictive adolescent from In Treatment.

An incestuous development: A study of severe psychopathology in a fictive adolescent from In Treatment.

Through the examination of a character in the television series In Treatment, the author will discuss derailments in early adolescent development, particularly in the formation of healthy self-representations of the body as stimulated by pubertal growth. Loewald’s article “The Waning of the Oedipus Complex” (1979) will be used as the basis for considering the importance and role of the incest taboo and the reemergence of the Oedipus complex in typical adolescent development. The concept of incestual interactions between parent and child will be described, in which a parent disregards boundaries between adolescent and parent and overwhelms the adolescent’s formation of identity with parental sexuality.

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