ABSTRACT

This chapter reflects the oedipal nature of Jack's difficulties and preoccupations. The oedipal struggle could be viewed as an inherent individuation process, through which each individual must pass in order to leave the orbit of Jack's family of origin and venture alone into the world, in search of new relationships. Jack entered the therapy very much as the infant pushed out by the parents. Jack sought psychotherapy in his late twenties because he had been unable to form relationships of any intimacy or to consummate other aspects of his vocational and recreational life. In external terms, it could be argued that the therapy has fulfilled its main stated aim: for Jack to be able to develop relationships and an intimate one in particular. Identification with the father would offer the normal route out of the Oedipus complex but Jack's continued battle with his own ambivalent feelings towards his father frustrates this path.