Volume 40, Issue 4, October 2023, Pages 1192–1199
Choupo Tamwa Julio Trésor1
1 Department of Psychology, University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Original language: English
Copyright © 2023 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
In reference to the psychoanalytical theory on the drives, the birth of a child in poor health leads to drive dissatisfaction preventing the support of the ego in the father which could inflict symbolic wounds on the latter. Research on intellectual disability has focused more on analyzing the experiences of mothers of children with intellectual disabilities and the experiences of siblings. However, the experiences of fathers of children with intellectual disabilities and their symbolic wounds are not documented. However, fathers and mothers of children with disabilities experience it differently. The study aims to fill this gap by linking this handicap to the symbolic wounds of fathers. A semi-structured clinical interview was carried out in the city of Douala with the father (aged 37) of an 11-year-old male child. The results of the thematic content analysis highlight a painful transmission, a depreciation of the ego, a narcissistic attack, a feeling of humiliation and a feeling of injustice in the latter. It can be concluded that these observed symbolic injuries are related to intellectual disability.
Author Keywords: Intellectual deficiency, intellectually deficient child, Symbolic injury, Handicap, Narcissistic attack.
Choupo Tamwa Julio Trésor1
1 Department of Psychology, University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Original language: English
Copyright © 2023 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
In reference to the psychoanalytical theory on the drives, the birth of a child in poor health leads to drive dissatisfaction preventing the support of the ego in the father which could inflict symbolic wounds on the latter. Research on intellectual disability has focused more on analyzing the experiences of mothers of children with intellectual disabilities and the experiences of siblings. However, the experiences of fathers of children with intellectual disabilities and their symbolic wounds are not documented. However, fathers and mothers of children with disabilities experience it differently. The study aims to fill this gap by linking this handicap to the symbolic wounds of fathers. A semi-structured clinical interview was carried out in the city of Douala with the father (aged 37) of an 11-year-old male child. The results of the thematic content analysis highlight a painful transmission, a depreciation of the ego, a narcissistic attack, a feeling of humiliation and a feeling of injustice in the latter. It can be concluded that these observed symbolic injuries are related to intellectual disability.
Author Keywords: Intellectual deficiency, intellectually deficient child, Symbolic injury, Handicap, Narcissistic attack.
How to Cite this Article
Choupo Tamwa Julio Trésor, “Are symbolic wounds linked to intellectual disability? A case study of the father of a child with an intellectual disability,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 1192–1199, October 2023.
