Eighty-Seventh Session

Richard was waiting for Mrs K. at the corner of the road. He repeated that he had decided not to go mountain-climbing with the others as it would make him tired. But he looked disappointed. Suddenly he said that he had a toothache, but at once tried to deny this by adding that it would pass. After a little while he said the tooth was still aching. Would Mrs K. promise not to tell Mummy about it? He was afraid that if she did, his tooth would be pulled out. He was very worried about the toothache, though he said that the pain was quite slight. He touched his gums repeatedly, and tried to comfort himself by telling Mrs K. that it was not an old tooth but a growing one which was hurting him. Then again he said that it must be a tooth decaying; but his second teeth were nice.

Mrs K. interpreted that Richard refused to go mountain-climbing, not only because he did not want to ask for a late session, but also because his toothache linked with his fears about his genital. For climbing the mountain meant to him climbing into Mrs K. and Mummy with his genital; he did not feel he could do it because his genital (the tooth) was not all right. Mrs K. referred to what he had said in the previous session about his father being so tired, and that he was sad about it. She interpreted that his father's tiredness also meant that his genital had been injured and broken by Richard and therefore he felt that his own genital would be broken if he put it into Mummy, or even that it should be broken because it was wrong to take her away from Daddy. In the previous session Richard had made a drawing of himself with very long legs; this meant that he had become Daddy and had become potent by taking away Daddy's genital. He had, as he often felt, taken into himself his father who was now tired and ill, and therefore he felt tired himself. He had the bad Hitler-father inside him as well. He had very much battered Hitler yesterday, and when he had scratched off t