The dead mother complex is a clinical condition described by
Andre Green involving an early and destructive identification with the figure of a 'dead' – or rather depressed and emotionally unavailable – mother.
Complex/syndrome
Green introduced the concept in an essay written in 1980, published in 1983, and translated into English in 1986. He saw the dead mother complex as involving a mother who was initially emotionally engaged with her child, but who then "switched off" from emotional resonance to emotional detachment, perhaps under the influence of loss and mourning in her own family of origin. The impact on the child, when it finds itself unable to restore a feeling contact, is the internalisation of a hard unresponsive emotional core, which fosters a destructive form of
narcissism
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
, contributes to
attachment disorder
Attachment disorder is a broad term intended to describe disorders of mood, behavior, and social relationships arising from unavailability of normal socializing care and attention from primary care giving figures in early childhood. Such a fail ...
s, and reveals itself as a major resistance to progress in the
transference
Transference (german: Übertragung) is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which the "feelings, attitudes, or desires" a person had about one thing are subconsciously projected onto the here-and-now Other. It usually concerns feelings from a ...
.
Later, writers have argued for differentiating a range of responses within the dead mother complex, reserving the name dead mother syndrome for the most acute form.
Literary examples
*The dead mother complex has been seen as underlying both
Gradiva
The ''Gradiva, The woman who walks,'' is a modern 20th century mythological figure from the novella ''Gradiva (novel), Gradiva'' by Wilhelm Jensen. The figure was inspired by a real Roman Empire, Roman relief.
Origins
''Gradiva'' was given ...
and Freud's own psychology as seen in ''
Delusion and Dream in Jensen's Gradiva''.
*
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...
in her writing has been linked to the dead mother complex.
Dead Mother Effect on a Daughter
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See also
References
{{Reflist, 2}
Further reading
* G. Kohon, ''The Dead Mother: The Work of André Green'' (1999)
External links
Human development
Psychoanalytic theory