ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the case study of Ava. Ava was a young woman, in her early thirties, who presented in therapy because her marriage was in difficulty. She no longer wanted to be sexually active with her husband, and had also withdrawn emotionally from the marital relationship. Ava began by complaining about her husband; she spoke of his tendency to dominate and bully her. Ava worked in a local business in a secretarial role. Ava suffered from an unresolved Oedipus complex, as does many a person who has had a sexual relationship with an opposite sex parent. This is not always the case, but if there has been an actual physical relationship, where the individual has enjoyed either the sexual act or the intimacy this involved or that came as a side-effect of the relationship, there will be an unresolved Oedipus complex. In these cases, the individual has not only wanted and longed for the object, but has actually secured the object for him or herself.
