ABSTRACT
The family plays a central role in the quality and intensity of guilt experienced by an individual. It plays the decisive role, over generations, in determining rising levels of guilt in a society. There are four modes of parenting – indifferent, indulgent, authoritarian, and authoritative.
Three family types nurture persecutory guilt. The persecuting father family (father authoritative; mother indulgent) tends to produce Puritan sons, with strong male identification and a high level of persecutory guilt. In the case of the daughter, it tends to produce straightforward identification with the mother, and attraction to the father as an authoritative masculine figure. The persecuting mother family (father weak or absent; mother authoritative) is more important in modern times. For the son, the lack of the crucial male model for identification creates difficulty. The daughter’s key relationship will remain with her mother, which is normal. Thirdly, where both parents are authoritative – disciplining and loving – we have the ideal modern family.
Three childhood situations are conducive to depressive guilt. There is the case of loss, caused by the mother dying or leaving; the case of the depressed mother; and that of the erratic mother, who loves in a haphazard, inconsistent, or conflicting way.
