Die Bereitschaft zur „inneren Diversität“ im Übertragungsgeschehen jenseits heterosexueller Liebesordnungen

It can hardly be denied that Freud’s conceptualization of the Oedipus complex and its dissolution reach their limits once the analytical couple is positioned beyond the heteronormative matrix, e.g., when a heterosexual analyst and a homosexual patient come together in the analytical room. This raises the question of how Oedipal conflicts take shape and can be worked through when neither the sexual desire nor the gender of the analytical couple seem to be a matching “fit”. Taking a gender-sensitive perspective, this article develops the Freudian conceptualization of the Oedipus complex in terms of a homosexual dimension, with the aim of making a fruitful contribution to the clinical practice. Drawing on a case vignette from an ongoing psychoanalytical treatment with a homosexual male patient, the unique dimensions of the transference-countertransference relationship are first illuminated and discussed. It is then argued that there is the need for a fundamental analytical openness and capability for an “inner sexual diversity” beyond heterosexual structures of love and desire; a necessity that, despite Freud’s heterosexual and binary signature, can not only be deduced but is actually being invited by Freudian theory itself.