Freudian term, drawn from the myth of Oedipus, designating attraction on the part of the child toward the parent of the opposite sex and rivalry and hostility toward the parent of its own. It occurs during the phallic stage of the psycho-sexual development of the personality, approximately years three to five. Resolution of the Oedipus complex is believed to occur by identification with the parent of the same sex and by the renunciation of sexual interest in the parent of the opposite sex. Freud considered this complex the cornerstone of the superego and the nucleus of all human relationships. Many psychiatrists, while acknowledging the significance of the Oedipal relationships to personality development in our culture, ascribe love and attraction toward one parent and hatred and antagonism toward the other not necessarily to sexual rivalry but to resentment of parental authoritarian power.

Relying on material from his self-analysis and on anthropoliogical studies of totemism, Freud developed the Oedipus complex as an explanation of the formation of the ego, the superego, and the id. The traditional paradigm in a (male) child’s psychological coming-intobeing is to first select the mother as the object of libidinal investment. This however is expected to arouse the father's anger, and the infant surmises that the most probable form of expression of this is castration.
The infant internalizes the rules pronounced by his father. This is how the super-ego comes into being. The father now becomes the figure of identification as the child wants to have his phallus, but resigns from his attempts to take the mother, shifting his libidinal attention to new objects of desire.

Carl Gustav Jung claimed that young girls' desire is for the father, known as the Electra complex, which is basically a reverse Oedipus complex (this is often falsely ascribed to
Freud. In fact it aroused Freud's anger for he had more complex construction of the female
Oedipal complex). The girl is originally attached to the mother as well, however the discovery of the absence of a penis in herself leads to an anger at the mother, who is held responsible. She therefore turns her libidinal attachment on to the father and imagines that she will become pregnant by him. She believes that the pregnancy will replace the missing penis, which she envies and will allow her to gain equal status with the father.

The orthodox medical world regarded Freud's work with hostility. His The
Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1904) and his Three Contributions to the Sexual
Theory (1905), were both followed by increased repudiations by regular medical circles. Given the continued hostility of orthodox medical circles Freud continued to work largely alone choosing to regard his professional state as being one of
"splendid isolation"

Sexual behavior becomes a problem and is considered compulsive when it's repeated often enough to interfere with one’s normal daily living and with one’s relationships.
Symptoms of sexual compulsion can include:
- Having multiple sexual partners or extramarital affairs
- Having sex with a succession of anonymous partners or prostitutes, and treating them as objects to be used for sex
- Using commercial sexually explicit phone lines and Internet chat rooms
- Engaging in excessive masturbation, as often as five to 15 times a day
- Using pornographic materials frequently
- Engaging in masochistic or sadistic sex, such as experiencing sexual excitement by inflicting or receiving pain during sex
- Exposing oneself in public
- Feeling compelled to engage in sexual activity when you're stressed, anxious or depressed

The following is an example of compulsive sexual behavior as expressed through the vide game “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.”
WARNING: This video contains crude humor that may be deemed inappropriate by morally correct individuals.

Erotophobia is defined as an abnormal and persistent fear of sexual love or sexual questions A person afflicted with erotophobia becomes noticeable disturbed by the mention of any sort of eroticism.
Related conditions are paraphobia (the fear of sexual perversion), homophobia (the fear of homosexual intercourse), and coitophobia (the fear of male-female intercourse), and genophobia (the fear of sex in general).

The Caligula complex is characterized by the afflicted person demonstrating symptoms reminiscent of the Roman emperor, Caligula. Caligula’s reign is notorious for his extremely extravagant, eccentric, and sometimes cruel despotism. The subject often displays an obsession with human sexuality that often manifests itself through socially questionable activities.