ABSTRACT
Jealousy may be underrepresented in our psychoanalytic understanding, often being confused with envy, likely because jealousy and envy are entwined in our experience. Simply put, envy refers to “the desire to have what someone else has; jealousy is this (envy) as well as wanting the other person not to have it” (Spielman, 1971, p. 60). In envy, one covets what another person possesses and feels less in not possessing that object. The relationship involved in envy is the dyad. In jealousy, the configuration is the triad and the coveted object is usually another’s love or attention. One is jealous when a third person seems to have intruded and taken or possessed that affection. In jealousy, there is usually envy of the now-lost affection plus the bitterness toward the intruder who appears to be responsible for that loss, the one who seems to have stolen the coveted love. Many authors emphasize that jealousy 30harbors more intense feeling, bitterness, and hatred, as well as the longing and loss.
