The Preoedipal and Oedipal Structure of Termination: An In-depth Case Study

Much has been written about the Oedipus complex as a central organizing focus for the understanding of early developmental attainments as well as for the structuring of the personality, but nowhere are triangular forces more vitally active, clinically, than in the termination phase. The decision to end, once agreed upon, typically sets in motion a symmetrical process in which two dynamics occur concurrently. First, what drives the termination is a mourning process in which the primary task is to relinquish the analyst as a transference object and to establish the analyst as an internal object. In parallel, oedipal structures take hold of the termination process so that the final working-through and the resolution of the transference/countertransference can be maximized-with the goal of integration. An eight-year, four-times-a-week analytic psychotherapy on the couch is described to illustrate the critical role of triangulation dynamics in termination. Using in-depth transcripts of dream and sessional material, the author highlights a number of conscious and unconscious resistances in the patient to this phase of work that were particular to his perverse oedipal pathology. Ron Britton's concept of an organized oedipal illusion or an oedipal delusion as defenses against the termination phase proved helpful to both patient and psychotherapist in negotiating some of the heightened emotional aspects of the final working-through.