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The ill person's need to be cared for places him in a unique position, and the adult in this position turns for dependence not to the mother but the physician. The latter becomes not only a helping but a threatening figure, and illness often has the meaning of punishment and expiation. If
the physician does not win the patient's confidence, the patient will become hostile and may even unconsciously suppress the will to recover. On the side of the physician, the relationship is also influenced by emotional factors. The doctor game of childhood is an attempt to master by activity something which one has experienced passively. It is also an attempt to overcome the sense of guilt because the physician is allowed to see and know everything. When the infantile sexual curiosity becomes adherent to the adult scientific one, the physician may be disturbed in exercising his duties. He may identify with his severe aggressive father and inspire fear in the patient. This does away with his own inferiority feeling but will disturb his professional efficiency. The feeling of guilt can find an outlet through a feeling of compassion. In compassion there is a negation of aggression. This also may become a serious obstacle to the performance of medical duty. The physician is in danger of being too active or passive.
The physician in granting protection to the patient derives his willingness to protect from his own childhood and his identification with his parents.