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BECOMING A PETER PAN: OMNIPOTENCE, DEPENDENCY AND THE FERENCZIAN CHILD

BECOMING A PETER PAN: OMNIPOTENCE, DEPENDENCY AND THE FERENCZIAN CHILD The aim of this paper is to provide a short history of the changes in Ferenczi’s concept of early childhood, during the two decade period, 1913–1932. Initially, Ferenczi mainly emphasized children’s feelings of omnipotence, which enable them to perceive themselves as strong, independent and capable human beings. By the mid-1920s, however, he felt that his earlier work did not give a good account of what comes after the stage of omnipotence, and that it did not adequately describe the difficulties in the transition from pleasure to reality principles. However, in his Clinical Diary, Ferenczi became fully aware of how fragile and insecure children are, and therefore how dangerous—yet necessary—it is for them to abandon the “stage of omnipotence” and to gain a “sense of reality”. For Ferenczi, traumatized children are children who had not been loved in their early childhood, and therefore could not develop the capacity to make the journey from pleasure principle to that of reality. It will be suggested that a paradigmatic example for this kind of child is Peter Pan. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Springer Journals

BECOMING A PETER PAN: OMNIPOTENCE, DEPENDENCY AND THE FERENCZIAN CHILD

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis , Volume 75 (1) – Feb 27, 2015

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References (36)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis
Subject
Psychology; Clinical Psychology; Psychotherapy; Psychoanalysis
ISSN
0002-9548
eISSN
1573-6741
DOI
10.1057/ajp.2014.51
pmid
25720781
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide a short history of the changes in Ferenczi’s concept of early childhood, during the two decade period, 1913–1932. Initially, Ferenczi mainly emphasized children’s feelings of omnipotence, which enable them to perceive themselves as strong, independent and capable human beings. By the mid-1920s, however, he felt that his earlier work did not give a good account of what comes after the stage of omnipotence, and that it did not adequately describe the difficulties in the transition from pleasure to reality principles. However, in his Clinical Diary, Ferenczi became fully aware of how fragile and insecure children are, and therefore how dangerous—yet necessary—it is for them to abandon the “stage of omnipotence” and to gain a “sense of reality”. For Ferenczi, traumatized children are children who had not been loved in their early childhood, and therefore could not develop the capacity to make the journey from pleasure principle to that of reality. It will be suggested that a paradigmatic example for this kind of child is Peter Pan.

Journal

The American Journal of PsychoanalysisSpringer Journals

Published: Feb 27, 2015

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