ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the pattern of the parental marriage, with special reference to the role of the father in personality formation. It shows that one of the main connecting threads in the "half-alive" patients is the "absence" of one parent–in author's cases more usually that of the father–a digression seems unavoidable. The chapter explores the trend of broken marriages continues, something over one million children will lose their father as if he had died, psychologically, in a more dangerous way than if he had. It concerns the all-too-present mother. The chapter aims to transference implications and intersperse the sections with clinical illustrations and a diagram, which is a pictorial representation of the vital configurations with parents. It shows that the reinstatement of the father can be a potent factor in the development of personality. The chapter is concerned with the significance of the father in the formation of personality, which involves his rediscovery within the therapeutic situation.
