The superego is envisaged as composed of three main parts—the ego ideal, the prohibiting superego, and the benign superego. Normally these three components are fused into one. All three elements have their origin in pre-oedipal object relations. One or the other may be so poorly represented as to have no influence at all. The clinical material of the paper deals with such an eventuality. In this clinical example the benign superego aspect is absent. The presence of the other two components distorted the personality and was the outcome of unsatisfactory pre-oedipal relations.