ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how sibling representations frequently appear in symbolized form. In fact, psychoanalytic literature suggests that children and adults use animals, real or imaginary pets, for expression of a wide range of unconscious processes. Insect, fish, birds, and animals that are not pets also stand for a variety of symbolic expressions. Child psychoanalysts may observe children's developing attachment to animals in vivo, so to speak, while treating their young patients. Insect, fish, bird, and animal symbolism abounds in the unconscious. The chapter specifically addresses how these symbols relate to the mental representations of siblings in adults, as illustrated by the following three adult cases of animal, fish, and bird symbolism. In The Interpretation of Dreams, early in the psychoanalytic movement, Freud referred to hostility between siblings as playing a primary role in the establishment of psychopathology.
