著者

赤木 真弓

出版者

日本青年心理学会

雑誌

青年心理学研究 (ISSN:09153349)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.31, no.2, pp.109-125, 2020-03-13 (Released:2020-04-05)

参考文献数

30

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The life of the American novelist Margaret Mitchell was examined as a case study of an unhealthy “foreclosure status” that transformed into a state of “diffusion”. The relationship between Mitchell and her mother indicated the following: (1) Mitchell had become subordinate to her mother through the pressure from her mother and her sense of inferiority towards her mother (Subordination with Conflict). Consequently, Mitchell studied to become a doctor to conform to her motherʼs wish, although it was opposed to her desire. (2) This caused her to enter an unhealthy “closed foreclosure”, which is characterized by the fear that her mother might deny or leave her. (3) She persisted in the goal of becoming a doctor while her mother was alive and consequently experienced a high degree of stress. She abandoned this goal after her motherʼs death and reached a state of diffusion. (4) She could not independently explore her identity even after her mother died, because she had suppressed herself. A new hypothesis concerning mother-daughter relationships resulting in unhealthy foreclosure is developed by analyzing Margaret Mitchellʼs life. Key words: mother-daughter relation, identity formation, foreclosure