A Story of Her Own: The Female Oedipus Complex Reexamined and Renamed

Kulish (psychiatry, Wayne State U., psychology, U. of Detroit) and Holtzman (psychiatry and psychology, U. of Detroit) offer a critical re-examination of psychoanalytic concepts based on Freud's Oedipal complex theory and argue that the phrase is, as it applies to females, an oxymoron that should be discontinued. The triangular situation (the evolution of relationships between child, mother, and father) are vastly different for males and females. For that reason, the authors have chosen "Persephone complex" as a more appropriate term for females, although they note that a change in language is far less important than a better understanding of female development. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Nancy Kulish, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the department of psychiatry, school of medicine at Wayne State University, and adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Detroit. Dr. Kulish is in private practice in Birmingham, Michigan. Deanna Holtzman, Ph.D. is a training and supervising analyst and past president of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Holzman is associate professor in the department of psychiatry, School of Medicine at Wayne State University.