Titre du document / Document title

Oedipal anxiety and cultural variations in the incest taboo: A psychotherapy case study in the Nigerian setting. Commentary = Anxiété oedipienne et variations culturelles du tabou de l'inceste : Une étude de cas de psychothérapie au Nigeria. Commentaire

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

ILECHUKWU S. T. C. ⁽¹⁾ ; BELL J. (Commentateur) ⁽¹⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾ Wayne State University, ETATS-UNIS

Résumé / Abstract

The A. reports the highlights of long-term dynamic psychotherapy with an African. The case is presented of a 34-year-old Nigerian ex-army officer with the onset of panic symptoms following the death of a neighbor. This event was found to symbolize the core of his conflicts. Therapy revealed ongoing conflict with his father, with peers at work and in his marriage. There were also violations of the incest taboos in his extended and polygamous family. The psychotherapeutic process is delineated with special reference to Oedipal components. The following variations are discussed: (i) the impact of a cultural setting which enforced infancy/early childhood domicile with mother, separate sleeping quarters for the father, and later separation of all males from mother; (ii) the dynamics of growing up in a home where father has multiple wives who may function as surrogate mothers in his lifetime or, at his death, as potential wives; (iii) the vicissitudes of the incest taboo in a complex extended family that is under siege by urbanization. The therapeutic experience contrasts sharply with the experience of western psychiatrists who practiced in Nigeria two decades before.

Revue / Journal Title

Transcultural psychiatry   ISSN 1363-4615 

Source / Source

1999, vol. 36, n^o 2 (100 p.)  [Document : 19 p.] (dissem.), pp. 211-230 [19 page(s) (article)]

Langue / Language

Anglais

Editeur / Publisher

Sage, London, ROYAUME-UNI  (1997) (Revue)

Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords

West Africa ; Nigeria ; Lagos ; Ethnopsychiatry ; Case study ; Man ; African ; Psychotherapy ; Anxiety ; Somatization ; Ethnopsychoanalysis ; Oedipus complex ; Incest prohibition ; Polygyny ; Cultural factor ; Extended family ; Mother-child relationship ; Father-child relationship ;

Mots-clés français / French Keywords

Afrique Occidentale ; Nigeria ; Lagos ; Ethnopsychiatrie ; Etude de cas ; Homme ; Africain ; Psychothérapie ; Anxiété ; Somatisation ; Ethnopsychanalyse ; Complexe d'Oedipe ; Prohibition de l'inceste ; Polygynie ; Facteur culturel ; Famille étendue ; Relation mère-enfant ; Relation père-enfant ;

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 12651, 35400008396989.0040