Oedipal grief: mourning or melancholia?

A discussion of "Oedipal Grief" by Robert May, Ph.D. A clinical syndrome seen in late adolescent men, oedipal grief refers to a depressive state sustained by a vengeful conscience and a pattern of self-punitive acting out. The psychopathology of this syndrome is clarified and differentiated sharply from the normal developmental process of grieving the loss of an idealized oedipal father. As a form of developmental melancholia, the repressed ambivalence and weakening of the ego in this syndrome is highlighted. May's reconceptualization of the structural-instinctual model of the superego and ego ideal is then critically reviewed; his tendency to reduce oedipal to preoedipal developmental phenomena is noted. A more developmentally differentiated theoretical model is suggested in terms of the incomplete internalization of the functions of self-control and self-esteem in the type of adolescent personality organization which underlies, and is perpetuated by, the psychopathology in the oedipal grief syndrome. The main task of brief psychotherapy is thus to promote the ego's capacity to tolerate increased inner conflict so that a developmental shift toward greater internalization can take place. The skillful treatment conducted by May is reinterpreted in these terms; and the therapeutic facilitation of adolescent grieving is placed in the context of structural-developmental change.