INTERIORITY AND INNER GENITAL SPACE IN MEN - WHAT ELSE CAN BE LOST INCASTRATION

The author reassesses castration anxiety in men in light of advances i n psychoanalytic theory. Castration anxiety arises when any crucial pa rt of mature psychic life is threatened. As in women, oedipal-level an d adult male psychic functioning contains powers rooted in the body-mi nd that are distinct from those we designate as phallic. The author st ruggles for a comparable word to represent devalued aspects of higher- level development that are primary, ''feminine,'' essential for psychi c mastery, and threatened by loss, i.e., by castration. Defining this aspect of mental life is difficult, but it includes receptivity, groun dedness, connectedness to self and others, and tolerance of ambiguity. Without access to this interior and more ambiguous continent, a man i s castrated less than whole. Clinical examples are provided.