The Electra Complex is a concept fromneo-Freudian psychology, which studies the psychosexual development of women, with particular attention to childhood and adolescence. According to this concept, at a certain stage of development, a girl becomes aware of her gender in relation to other girls and boys, and especially in relation to her parents. The girl realizes that she does not have a penis like her father, and unconsciously blames her mother for this, since it was she who gave birth to her like this. The daughter may become especially attached to her father, and then she becomes jealous of her mother, whom she sees as a rival for her father's attention. If this problem is left unresolved, the teenager develops an Electra complex. In Greek mythology, Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon, suffered greatly after the death of her father and longed for him, and then conspired with her brother to kill her mother, whom she believed to be guilty of her father's death. And only by carrying out her plan was she able to become happy. This myth echoes the myth of Oedipus, who kills his father in order to marry his mother, although he does not know that they are his parents. Just like these myths, the Oedipus and Electra complex also have common features - the essence of them is that the child experiences attraction to the parent of the opposite sex.
What can this complex lead to?
But not only if the girl has a dadwonderful and dotes on his daughter, the teenager may develop an Electra complex. Quite often, such a problem arises when a girl has received insufficient or improper attention (for example, if he is too strict with her) from her father throughout her life. Lack of mutual understanding with her father may later cause an older girl to want to compensate for his lack in relationships with other men. As a rule, such women give preference to men much older than themselves all their lives, wanting to remain a woman-daughter for them. In fact, the same thing happens with a woman who had a wonderful father - in every man she looks for the traits of her father and, as a rule, does not find them, which is why such women are almost never happy in their personal lives. The Electra complex can also bring positive, at first glance, traits into a girl's character, which will subsequently not contribute to her personal happiness. Even in adolescence, “fighting” with her mother for her father's attention, the girl tries to do everything to make her father happy with her. She studies diligently, then enters a university, gets a specialty, most often related to her father's profession, then diligently makes a career, usually a successful one. All this leads to the fact that she develops imperiousness and unfeminine firmness of character. This greatly helps her professional growth, which cannot be said about her personal life.
What can be done?
How to get rid of Electra complex?The girl's parents can provide significant assistance in this by combining their efforts. It seems to a teenage girl that she is no longer a child, but a young woman. She can rebel against her mother. It is at this age that she experiences a special need for rebellion and self-affirmation, but now she will assert herself by trying to humiliate her mother. The correct position of the father in such a situation will be to define the boundaries in the relationship with his daughter and fully support his wife. The father must understand: the daughter is trying to manipulate him, using her father's love to get everything she wants. Perhaps, it is the position of the father of the girl who begins to show the Electra complex that primarily determines how the relationship in the family will develop in the future. As a rule, seeing that her parents are in a harmonious relationship and support each other in everything, the girl eventually begins to identify herself with her mother and finally gets rid of the complex.
