ABSTRACT
This chapter provides further thought to the question of why psychoanalysis has been neglectful of exploring "lateral" (sibling) relationships in favour of the overwhelming concentration on "vertical" (parent–child) relationships. It discusses S. Freud's assertion that the oedipal–castration complex is the universally inescapable "strong" trauma of all vertical relationships; together with Juliet Mitchell's proposition that it is the equally universal trauma of lateral relationships to be displaced by a sibling, real or phantasized. The chapter argues that the only universal trauma for all mankind is the fact of the initial total helpless dependence for life on the mother. The only route upwards on the relational developmental staircase of alternate vertical and lateral steps, with "the couple" at each intersection, depends on a capacity to relinquish the original symbiotic mother–baby duo in favour of a trio, a triangular space that allows for thought, independent movement, and choice.
