Mother, Melancholia, and Humor in Erik H. Erikson's Earliest Writings

Erik H. Erikson wrote three articles when he was in his late-twenties and an up-and-coming member of the psychoanalytic community in Vienna. At the time he wrote these articles, he was in a training psychoanalysis with Anna Freud, teaching at the Heitzing School in Vienna, and learning the Montessor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and health
Main Author: Capps, Donald 1939- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [2008]
In: Journal of religion and health
Further subjects:B Melancholia
B Mother
B Narcissism
B Superego
B Humor
B Erik H. Erikson
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:Erik H. Erikson wrote three articles when he was in his late-twenties and an up-and-coming member of the psychoanalytic community in Vienna. At the time he wrote these articles, he was in a training psychoanalysis with Anna Freud, teaching at the Heitzing School in Vienna, and learning the Montessori method of teaching. These articles focus on the loss of primary narcissism and the development of the superego (or punitive conscience) in early childhood, especially through the child's conflict with maternal authority. They support the idea that melancholia, with its internalized rage against the mother, is the inevitable outcome of the loss of primary narcissism. I note, however, that the third of these articles makes a case for the restorative role of humor, especially when Freud's view that humor is a function of the superego is taken into account.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10943-008-9178-x