castration complex

in Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the whole combination of the child’s unconscious feelings and fantasies associated with being deprived of the phallus, which in boys means the loss of the penis and in girls the belief that it has already been removed. It derives from the discovery that girls have no penis and is closely tied to the Oedipus complex.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

February 23rd 2025

neurotic solution

a method of resolving a neurotic conflict by removing it from awareness. [proposed by Karen D. Horney]