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The central part of Dr. Hoffmann's theme seems to be the power of a strongly emotional state (when the ego is either undeveloped or is overpowered, or both) to bring about a certain type of identification or unity between subject and object, in which the object (and the whole environment) seems to share the emotional state of the subject, good or bad. The subject confers pleasure or pain on the object, in this sense, just as much as the subject credits the object with the power of determining his own emotional states, the phenomena of projection depending on the 'double unity' (Zweieinigkeit) of subject and object; that is, the libidinal stream from subject to object is exactly the same, subjectively, as that from object to subject.
The author starts from an inquiry into the reason of the ego-weakness found in addicts of all types, connecting it with faulty development. With many references to authorities on narcissism and ego development, he himself distinguishes between the awareness of an object's presence and the cathexis of the object, giving some explanation of the way in which an idea develops out of a perception.
Dr. Hoffmann provides some interesting case material shewing the return of (or regression to) past developmental stages of the ego, in the form of two different kinds of narcissistic experience.
The patient was subject to states of alienation and depersonalization, both of which she called 'depressions'. One type of narcissistic experience resulted when the patient, in spite of being forewarned by her analyst of a probable delay in his arrival, got into a panic on his non-appearance, although with no thought of possible disaster to him. Having greeted him delightedly when he came, she suddenly relapsed for some minutes into complete silence. Returning to herself, she declared that the joy of his arrival had made her completely forget that he was there. That is, says Dr. Hoffmann, the object—the analyst—had served first to relieve the patient o