Neglected fathers in the aetiology and treatment of sexual deviations

Abstract

Current researches in sexual deviations have rightly stressed deficiencies and faults in the mother/child relationship, fears of annihilation and an inability to achieve separation and independence. As a result of this the role of the father in the patient's family structure and in their psychotherapies and psychoanalyses has been somewhat neglected, also because the fathers are usually described as cold, distant, uninvolved, etc. The author believes that the obliteration of the father figure, whether accidental or deliberate, is an important part of the psychopathology. It follows that in the late stages of a therapy there should be a careful examination of the original establishment of the father as a second object, as its internalization is essential for a healthy sexual development. The obliteration of the father figure can cause serious problems in terms of the understanding of the transference and countertransference. The paper includes a clinical description of a case where such problems were much in evidence.