One type of reaction of a patient during analysis is studied in detail. The patient is a homosexual woman with anxiety attacks. Three periods of euphoria were observed, each occurring at a time when the patient made a progressive step, but the means used to achieve the step had pathological features. On the first occasion, she dared have positive feelings for the analyst towards whom she had felt aloof. On the second occasion, she dared assert her independence of her homosexual partner. On the third occasion, the patient acquired more freedom in her contact with men. Each step was, however, accompanied by anxiety and an overreaching of the goal; e.g. on the last occasion there was a feeling of superiority to men. Thus in these reactions there was combined joy in increased health and self-confidence, plus the gratification of pathological trends, plus release from humiliation and guilt. Each represented a definite turning point in the analysis although the means used to cope with the situation had pathological features.