(1965). Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 34:182-206 The Significance of Scrotal Sac and Testicles for the Prepuberty Male Psychoanalysis seems to have neglected the psychological importance of the scrotal sac and testicles at certain periods in the life of the male. These periods include the pregenital, prepubertal, and pubertal phases. (The time of the male climacteric is another such period but will not be discussed here.) Of these phases, prepuberty will chiefly concern us in the present paper. Unfortunately, as Spiegel (18) has remarked, little has been written about prepuberty, especially in boys; most writers refer to it vaguely as part of adolescence. Anna Freud (10), Blos (6), and Aichhorn (1) take note of the quantitative and qualitative changes in the drives that cause a disturbance in the distribution of internal forces at puberty; there is a resurgence of pregenital gratification in consequence. But even a definition of prepuberty in the boy is lacking. Most case reports designate him as adolescent after eleven and make no mention of his physiological development. Some of this co [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
