Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus

Alternative hypothesis of Oedipus complex: The Little P. Story

Elena Cherepanov, PhD Chair of Trauma Studies Program, School of Psychology and Counseling Cambridge College, Cambridge MA Elena.cherepanov@cambridgecollege.edu

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus

Abstract
Author argues that the true OC (Oedipus Complex) comes from identification with the familys pet rather than identification with the father, as previously thought. In the classic scenario, the OC is interpreted as fear of punishment (i.e. castration) by the father for sexual attraction to the mother; in the proposed hypothesis, a fear of castration is linked to a mother who neuters a pet. In a way, its understood as punishment for maturation by means of castration. The tremendous social pressure to neuter family pets exacerbates the Oedipus complex and may have a profound effect on personality development, family relationships and even the whole society. The Little P. case analysis and the following pilot study points at severe psychological consequences and widereaching social implications of such a disastrous extent that psychologists cannot afford to ignore it any longer.

Key Words: Oedipus Complex, Mother, Fear of castration, Neutering Pets

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus

Sigmund Freud, by Max Halberstadt, 1921 Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg

This picture is placed here out of a dire need to have someone to blame.

Ever since it was introduced by S. Freud in 1909, the OC (Oedipus Complex) continues to fascinate generations of psychologists and the public. According to Freud, it is expected that at a certain age a boy sexually desires his mother and wishes to murder his rival--the father who actually has the means and the opportunity. In our article we intend to demonstrate that, on the contrary, at the phallic phase of psychosexual development a boy instead wishes to kill his mother. Freud (1909) suggests that the child fears that the father will put a stop to his early sexual activities. The young child faces the conventions of society and aligns prohibition 3

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus with castration as the most powerful punishing tool for unapproved sexual activities. This societal expectation of the punishment by the castration is projected on the father and is translated into the Fear of Castration syndrome. This phenomenon was first introduced by S. Freud in his famous case study called Little Hans. Hans was a little boy whose father happened to be Dr. Freuds friend and supporter. History is silent as to whether the boy's father remained Dr. Freud's friend after the publications. The father brought his 5-year-old boy (real name Herbert Graf) for treatment to an already famous Dr. Freud because the boy was afraid of horses after witnessing a frightening event. When Hans was four years old, he was at the local park in the company of the family's maid. A cart horse pulling a heavy load went mad and collapsed. Herbert was so scared that he became fearful of going out into the street. Freud successfully demonstrated that Little Hanss fear of horses couldnt be caused by anything else but the Oedipus Complex and summarized his treatment in the famous paper entitled Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy (1909). In this article Freud suggested that the fear of horses meant that the boy developed a sexual love for his mother and saw his father as a rival whom he wanted to get rid of. But his father was bigger, stronger and had a larger penis. The boy had every reason to believe that his father saw him as a rival too and wanted to punish him by means of castration. The horse reminded the boy of his father, because it was also big, strong and had a large penis. The castration anxiety and phobia resulted from an incomplete repression and were the defense mechanisms being used to combat the impulses involved in Little Hans's sexual development.

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus

Herbert Graf Little Hans. He went on to become a successful opera producer. Retrieved from: http://www.holah.co.uk/study-summary.php?slug=freud

In general non-psychoanalytical psychotherapy, a therapist rarely comes across such clear and unambiguous clinical representations of Oedipus neurosis as Little Hanss story. Does this mean that the Oedipus complex is no longer relevant? Just like Freud, the author continued daily observations hoping for an accidental encounter. And exactly like Freud, the author incidentally stumbled upon a case, which made the author painfully aware of the extent to which we, as parents, are ignorant about the Oedipus Complex and, because we are ignorant, ruin children's lives by violently shattering their innocence. The presented case is called the Little P. Story so as not to confuse it with the classic Little Hans Story. This problem first came to my attention when my very close 11-year-old male relative (Little P.), who did not allow me to disclose anything more about him, coerced me into getting a kitten (which later turned out to be a male kitten, even though that 5

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus wasnt the initial plan). In the absence of my enthusiasm and my complete lack of previous feline-related experience, my close male relative pro-actively found out that the neighbors cat was very pregnant. Soon after, he secretly brought home a fluffy ball and informed me that my choice was either to let the kitten stay, or to never see my relative ever again. The kitten needed a name, and, consequently, its gender was identified. As it is well known, it is almost impossible for an amateur to determine the gender of a very young cat, which soon became a subject of emotional discussion in the neighborhood. Those neighbors who suggested that it was a male kitten always added: And you will have to neuter him. I immediately noticed remarkable differences in the verbalization, level of generalized arousal, symbolic and non-verbal communications, and accompanied body language: females remained relaxed with a slight sense of enjoyment, while males, on the contrary, became tense and attempted to cover their genitals. Once the kitten turned out to be a male cat, named Masik, the time came to make the decision about his neutering. At that moment I suddenly found myself in complete isolation, with no family support, and faced a storm of questions from my close male preteen relative along with ferocious disapproval from my male family members towards this idea. Here is a typical conversation that went on multiple times a day: Little P.: Why do you have to do That?
Note: The name of the procedure was clearly and intentionally avoided in a similar way to when in the Harry Potter saga the evil protagonist was called He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Rowling got the idea from two 1950s London gangsters called the Kray Twins: "The story goes that people didnt speak the name Kray. You just didnt mention it. You didnt talk about them, because retribution was so brutal and bloody... (see in Harry Potter Lexicon. Retrieved from:

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/voldemort.html. Similarly, the N word (Neutering) is clearly avoided by males, which by itself signifies a strong suppressed fear).

Me: When a cat hits puberty, he becomes nasty and aggressive, and engages in extremely violent and undesirable sexual behavior. He will become moody, unhappy, and smelly, and will mark his territory by peeing on the carpet. He will run away, get himself into trouble by fighting for no particular reason, and may end up being killed.

Little P. : Are you saying that when I hit puberty and do the same things, you will also.? This conversation was usually accompanied by genuine expressions of pain and explicit body language unambiguously suggesting strong identification with the cat (i.e. covering the genitals), along with a high level of neuroticism, intense fear, anger and hostility towards me. Based on these observations, I presumed that the neutering of a pet may have a strong impact on children, particularly on boys. The indirect confirmation of the significance of this hypothesis was found in the local veterinary clinic. In spite of vicious resistance at home, open threats, intimidation, and having to sleep with my doors locked from the inside, I finally brought our cat to the veterinarian. There the doctor immediately warned me that they were not using the dreaded N word in the veterinary clinic. Instead they said Tutoring to spare the feelings of males in the waiting room.

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus

Romanino, Scene of a cat castration, 1531-32, Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutering

Method Being taken aback by the intensity of the emotional response to neutering, I was determined to check whether the Little P. story was just incidental interaction or an important discovery of a very serious problem. To check whether the symbolic meaning of neutering went beyond routine household events, the author administered a pilot study which confirmed the authors worst fears. The study had two null hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that a pet's neutering had no impact on personality and family relationships. The second null hypothesis suggested that a pet's neutering indiscriminately impacted both males and females. The participants in the pilot study were randomly drawn from the neighborhood. The sample consisted of middle age adults (N=13) who had their male pets neutered. There were 7 males and 6 females; 9 Caucasians, 1 Hispanic, and 2 African-Americans. 8

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus All of the respondents were married at the time but not to each other. One participant (male) dropped out from the study because in his response to the first question he became too emotional and distraught to continue. The participants were asked to answer a small survey. 1. Who in your family made the decision to neuter the pet? 11 (96.6 %) of the respondents answered that that was the wife or mother, or another female member of the family. 1 (3.4 %) answered I dont remember . 2. How did you feel about this decision? All the females (100%!) responded: We had to do that for the sake of our family. Nobody else took responsibility. All males (100%!), on the contrary, reported strong ambivalence, feelings of helplessness, identification with the animal (I feel his pain!), and resentment and anger towards females: For them its easy to decide. They dont understand. Males also clearly described their experience with neutering in terms of fear of castration, acute and severe trauma, and feelings of being betrayed by women. 3. How did the neutering affect your personality and family relationships? Answers significantly differed between males and females. As reported, the neutering hasnt been perceived as an issue by the females at all. In their decision they approached the issue from a practical standpoint without any emotional investment, and were surprised by the strong reaction from their male family members. Males, on the contrary, reported the event as an extremely traumatic experience, which never really healed, and they still, many years later, have flashbacks and feel this as a

Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus personal failure: My family life hasnt been the same ever since and "I still cannot believe that my wife/mother is capable of doing this. I dont feel safe in my own family. Results The pilot results suggested that a pet's neutering has an adverse impact on personality and family relationships and causes severe psychological trauma in some family members. The severity of the impact depends on the gender of the pet owner and primarily strikes male pet owners. The initial study was anecdotal and interpretive. Obviously, the sample size and limited questioning didnt allow for scientific inferences or generalizations. Despite that, the pilot data clearly demonstrated an overwhelming trend and calls for further research. The results seem sufficient to raise concerns about adverse effects of pet neutering on self image, self-identity and relationships in the family. Discussion In the classic scenario, the Oedipus Complex is the anticipation of punishment by means of castration, executed by the father. Here we are dealing with the fear of castration by the mother as a punishment for maturation. In our hypothesis the Oedipus complex originates primarily from identification with the pet rather than identification with the father. Despite the differences between the classic and the pet-related Oedipus complex, they both result in the neurotic fear of loss of genitals. From the pilot study it appears that pet neutering may have significant and even traumatizing impacts on the male Ego and has a devastating effect on family relationships. The data analysis demonstrated that more research is needed in order to develop an effective assessment and treatment of the Oedipus complex. Otherwise, we may be facing an epidemic of

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Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus Oedipus neurosis of unknown proportions. Its stunning that the Little P. phenomenon has been overlooked by psychologists, which can be explained by a denial of the issue: psychologists have also neutered their pets and have had to face their family members. The survey results demonstrated the striking gender difference in responses. The females remained almost untouched by the challenge. A possible explanation is that, according to Freud, females tend to suffer from penis envy. And, in this way, the neutering of a male pet may have a therapeutic effect for them. But this statement requires further research along with exploring the correlation between the pets and owners gender in a case of spaying/neutering a pet. Does this phenomenon have the same presence in dogs owners as it has in cats owners? These and other fascinating questions are waiting for answers. The study of a pet-related Oedipus complex will offer a better understanding of animal hoarders, who consistently refuse to spay/neuter their pets, and will allow us to develop effective treatments. Freud discovered that fear of castration lead to a fear of horses. If we pay no attention to this situation, we may face a world in which an entire generation of males will be afraid of females (a phenomenon that we can already observe happening), will suffer from feelings of inadequacy, and will refuse to leave their houses because of a phobia of horses, just like Little Hans. The preliminary findings clearly demonstrate the prevalence of the problem, suggest new conceptualizations, and offer an alternative hypothesis of the Oedipus Complex. The epidemiological estimation of the fear of castration with subsequent neurosis is based on the overwhelming number of pet owners who have had their pets

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Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus spayed or neutered. The Humane Society of the US presented the following statistics which were compiled from the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) 2007-2008 National Pet Owners Survey. Even the modest estimate indicates enormous epidemiological potential: Thirty-nine percent of U.S. households own at least one dog Nearly 34 percent of U.S. households (or 38.4 million) own at least one cat Seventy-five percent of owned dogs are spayed or neutered Eighty-seven percent of owned cats are spayed or neutered

Possible Solutions Anticipated devastating impact of the mass pet neutering on males calls for urgent measures: There is a need for public funding for research and treatment; There is a great need to have psychiatrists, counselors, social workers and psychologists trained to recognize the signs of Oedipus Complex; Veterinary hospitals must offer support and psycho-educational groups for all males whose pets were/are going through neutering. Some of these groups need to be incorporated into school education; The neutering must be allowed only after the owner has attended a psychoeducational course and produced the certificate of attendance; Psych-education must be provided for females about the effects of neutering on male family members; Books on coping skills must be published for different ages;

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Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus This topic must be introduced into a core curriculum in all graduate programs in human services, and this course made mandatory for a license in psychiatry, psychology, mental health counseling and social work; Psychologists must demand the removal of the word neutering from public use, label it as insensitive, and mandate the use of the word tutoring instead; Mental health professionals must raise their voices to ban neutering. Conclusion While I was working on this article, I came across the article published by Associated Press entitled "Rhode Island requires that cats be fixed. It says that Gov. Don Carcieri signed a law making Rhode Island the first state in the nation to require cat owners to spay or neuter their pets. Cat owners must spay or neuter pets older than six months unless they pay $100 for a breeder's license. Violators can be fined $75 per month (2006). Humanity is on the verge of psychological catastrophe

References The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (1953). Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74. Lord Voldemort: Data n.d.). The Harry Potter Lexicon. Retrieved from: http://www.hplexicon.org/wizards/voldemort.html Rhode Island requires that cats be fixed (n.d.), (06.10.06). Associated Press. Retrieved from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060610/ap_on_re_us/brf_fixed_cats_2 Whack-a- Freud Game (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.postmodernvillage.com/games/freud.html 2007-2008 National Pet Owners Survey (October 3, 2009). The Humane Society of US. Retrieved from:

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Alternative Hypothesis of Oedipus http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/pet_overpopulation_and_owner ship_statistics/us_pet_ownership_statistics.html.

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