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Children, Parents and the Oedipus Complex

 

            Parents shape the lives of their children - letting religion consume every aspect of their days, or allowing copious amount of money to mold their views. Sometimes, however, it's the unconditional love that can be most damaging. Sigmund Freud adored that type of love from his mother and in a self review wrote "When you were incontestably the favorite child of your mother, you keep during your lifetime this victor feeling, you keep feeling pure of success, which in reality seldom doesn't fulfill" (Life and Work). Freud continued to explore the future effects of relationships between children and parents, and in doing so, gained many followers as well as critics who questioned not only Freud's reliability, but the science behind his findings: while those reviews have many great points, the original theory presented by Freud still holds some truth.
             On May 6th, 1859, Sigmund Freud (originally Sigismund Schlomo Freud) was born into a middle-class family in Freiburg, Austria. At the age of four, his family relocated to Vienna where Freud would stay for most of his life. Although born Jewish, Sigmund Freud was known for his atheism with disdain for religion and its effects on society's development (McLeod). After graduating from the University of Vienna, with a degree in medicine, and a passion for science and therapeutic work, Freud set up a private practice and began studying and treating patients with various psychological disorders (Biography). Freud would later become known as the father of psychoanalysis and publish many papers and books illustrating his findings on religious effects, dreams and the subconscious, as well as what he would call "The Oedipus Complex" - the relationship between children and their parent of the opposite sex. Freud's supporters thought highly of his research, but he also had those who were against it. Albert Ellis, a famous American psychologist said, "I thought foolishly that Freudian psychoanalysis was deeper and more intensive than other, so I was trained and practiced in it (Brainy).


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