Verena Kast’s Father-Daughter, Mother-Son was first published by Element Books in 1997. Since then, it has become a classic read for those adventuring into Carl Gustav Jung ́s concept of complexes—what they are, how they affect our life and shape our relationships— and for those wanting to understand more about the relationship between fathers and daughters, and mothers and sons—of whatever sex and gender.
This book is not only a must read for psychoanalysts and psychologists, but it is also comprehensible and very useful for those that have little knowledge about this field and those eager to know more about themselves.
This book is the first of the series titled Jungianeum: Re-Covered Classics in Analytical Psychology curated by Stefano Carpani.
Professor Verena Kast studied psychology at the Universities of Basel and Zurich and trained as a psychoanalyst at the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich. From 1973 – 2008 she taught at the University of Zurich. She is past president of the Swiss Society for Analytical Psychology, and of the IAAP. She was chairwoman of the International Society for Depth Psychology, co-director of the Lindau Psychotherapy Weeks and past president of the C.G. Jung Institute.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Loosening parental ties – ‘I want to do everything differently’
2 Complexes and episode memories – ‘There’s no point in doing anything’
3 The originally positive mother complex in men – ‘The world should like someone like me’
4 The originally positive mother complex in women – ‘You can cope with just about anything as long as
you’ve eaten well’
5 Live and let live – Typical characteristics of originally positive mother complexes
6 Aggression and lament – Developing beyond the originally positive mother complex
7 The originally positive father complex of the son – ‘Proud father – wonderful son ’
8 Dutiful daughters – The originally positive father complex in women
9 The originally negative mother complex in women – ‘A rotten person in a rotten world’
10 ‘As though paralysed’ – The originally negative mother complex in men
11 The originally negative father complex in men – ‘Made to feel like nothing’
12 The originally negative father complex in women – ‘I ’m no good for anything’
13 Staking out territory in the unknown
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
