the incestuous love of a mother for her male child. The name stems from the Greek myth of Phaedra, Theseus's wife. Whenever her stepson, Hippolytus, refused her love, Phaedra claimed he raped her and she then hung herself.
Cite this page: N., Sam M.S., "PHAEDRA COMPLEX," in PsychologyDictionary.org, April 7, 2013, https://psychologydictionary.org/phaedra-complex/ (accessed February 4, 2023).