For example when what Freud called development of sexual feelings and masturbation in early childhood can be seriously questioned. Joseph Nuttin instead found that "the child plays with his penis and is interested in it, as he is interested in many objects which have the same characteristics of flexibility and elasticity" (Nuttin 70)
This is proven by those who have cross-checked the validity of Freud's claims. For example his theory of superego and ego which he connected with 'Oedipus Complex' were based on nothing more than some anecdotal evidence and vague ideas as Esternon found: [Freud] observes that the ego's 'three tyrannical masters are the external world, the super-ego and the id', but since this is saying little more than that man's consciousness is governed by his environment, his conscience, and his innate instincts, it is hardly a great revelation (Webster 292)
Freud theories are also not based on empirical evidence which is why they lose their credibility. Reuben Fine explains that Freud was "an empirical scientist who generalized from the observations, primarily clinical, that he made" (Fine viii)
It is also the most maligned concept in psychoanalysis. The idea that all boys secretly desire their mothers (and girls their father, that the bound between children and parents is to no small extent sexual in nature is abhorrent to most people)" (De Berg, 2003)
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the Oedipus complex is revealed in terms of Hamlet's relationship with his mother, Gertrude, and this complex is present in several instances. For once, according to Freud, sons will often perceive their fathers as inferior beings and imagine their mothers being married to other people, capable of greater things (Dolloff, 2006)