ABSTRACT
In reading Dr. Lieberman’s paper, I felt I was back in the days of the controversies over penis envy (with Freud (1931), Horney (1926) and Klein (1932)) debating whether penis envy is basic or is a defense against some primary anger and longings related to the woman’s wish for a baby and envy of her mother. Here is a woman that comes for analysis with all the anger and rage at her mother that seemed aimed at what she perceived as her defective body. Freud would have had a ball! Her mother loved her brother more because he had a penis! Her mother gave him everything and idolized him! He was wonderful! The patient (a girl) was terrible, stupid, defective, and sicker than the rest of the family. The mother made fun of the patient’s legs (after all they were extensions that were ugly – not like the brother’s beautiful penis). The mother had caused her to lose her penis (she dreams of the Nazis coming and taking off a sliver of her finger) and says her mother used “Nazi tactics” in raising her. Not only are these the accusations that Freud listed as to why the girl turns away from the mother (Freud, 1925) but also in this patient’s case this mother traumatizes the patient during a crucial phase of development by destroying her autonomy.
