Introduction

The contributions have in common new psychoanalytic views of how a woman develops. This chapter examines Freud’s ideas about masochism as seminal to modern psychoanalytic views in which an unempathic environment is seen to skew an innate femininity toward masochism, that is, women are not seen as inherently castrated and/or masochistic. It traces one area of atypical development in women and focuses on women who experienced their mothers as distant, cold, and dominant. Kavaler-Adler then demonstrates similar psychological events in the inner lives of other creative women, in particular a female patient in psychotherapy. Ronald W. Levin presents a carefully observed and analyzed case of a woman with severe psychosomatic complaints, whose interaction with both parents was fraught with psychological peril for her. In his paper “Somatic Symptoms, Psychoanalytic Treatment, Emotional Growth” he makes a convincing case for the hypothesis that medical, technological treatment may contribute to such patients’ complicated medical course.