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At the March 19, 1992 conference of the Affiliated Staff, Dr. Robert Lupi presented the four-year analysis of a Treatment Center patient, a young man diagnosed as an obsessive-compulsive personality with masochistic features. During the four years of analysis, the patient obtained significant therapeutic benefit. He established a stable, apparently gratifying relationship with a woman, was about to enter professional school, and was less burdened with characterologic difficulties.
The analysis was terminated because the patient was beginning professional school. Though Dr. Lupi had concurred with the patient's decision to terminate, he raised questions for the staff about the likely presence of unresolved conflicts, ongoing secrecy in the transference, and the issue of the patient's developmental tasks as they related to the termination.
The discussants, Drs. Aaron Esman and Richard Kopff, both warmly praised Dr. Lupi and were enthusiastic about the analysis, its conduct, and results.
Dr. Kopff chose to focus on aspects of the patient's prominent sadomasochistic character and transference. He began with a brief review of the literature on masochism, including the contributions of Freud, Brenner, and Reik. He underscored the multiple functions of masochism: (1) instinctual gratification, that is, libidinal and aggressive wishes; (2) superego needs, especially for punishment and expiation; (3) adaptive and defensive functions.