Electra Complex Example
Psychology / / July 04, 2021
The Electra complex it is a complex in which girls develop a fixation on their father. The name of this complex is derived from the Greek legend of Electra, in which the princess helped by her brother Orestes avenge the murder of her father. According to some versions she is the mother of Electra and Orestes "Clytemnestra" who killed her husband. In another version Egisto the lover of Clytemnestra who kills the king and his concubine, while the two brothers are away from the kingdom. Upon returning, Electra decides to avenge the death of her father and the betrayal of her mother, so she instigates her brother to kill Clytemnestra and Egisto. In mythology her brother is forgiven for her crime and she is not judged. Over the years she marries her brother's friend.
This complex is based on the emotional attraction that young girls develop towards their father, this according to the ideas of the psychologist Gustav Jung, who claimed that at some point during childhood all girls would develop this complex, supposedly it is just a simple temporary emotional attraction of girls towards their father, produced by the natural imitation of the mother, and because the father is the main male figure they know despite the existence of other males in the environment family.
According to the author of this complex, young girls suffer from it and after five years they leave it, but there are cases in which this fixation worsens and this complex lasts many years beyond the adolescence. So therapy and psychoanalysis are necessary to help the person accept it and let it go.
Depending on the person and her environment, the complex is more or less strong, ranging from a mere predilection towards the father, to a rather physical attraction in disturbed adolescents. In many cases the girl consciously or unconsciously competes against the mother for the affection and attention of the father, in some cases the girls develop hatred or aversion towards the mother. There are times when girls, after being rejected their attentions by their father, end up rejecting him and sometimes they harbor a certain resentment. Some girls, when they are rejected, try to replace the father with someone else. Usually when parents clarify the nature of family relationships and roles sexual, or girls learn by themselves the harmfulness of incest and cultural issues, they leave this attitude.
It is not the same as Lolita syndrome, but depending on the author, the latter may be related to the Electra complex. The Electra complex It does not have a cure in itself, what therapy seeks to help these people is first acceptance by the person who suffers and then therapy to solve it.
It is not the same to suffer from Electra complex to maintain incestuous relationships with parents, the complex is according to Jung part of development female, while paraphilias are independent of the mental development of girls and mostly occur when the children are already adults or teenagers; It is not in itself part of the complex although there are those who want to see it that way, it may simply be a situation of momentary seduction between the two due to different factors, such as psychological or clearly mental disorders, such as a father's fixation on his own daughter or vice versa; by customs, traditions or the morbid environment in which the family develops.