Response to Martin H. Stein, M.D.

I want to thank Dr. Stein for his thoughtful response to my presentation of Mr. D. His questioning as to whether any character change had occurred during this short analysis challenged me to further articulate my thinking. Knowing Dr. Stein's expertise in dream interpretation, I had chosen this rather complex hour because of its inclusion of a dream based on an earlier dream, in which the central action was seen by the dreamer in a reflection. This early dream expressed Mr. D's notion of the analyst as a mirror, reflecting back disowned and frightening aspects of himself, like his impulsiveness. The hour also demonstrated a peculiar, rapid shifting of Mr. D's defenses which occurred episodically during analytic hours—a sudden experience of intense affect, usually following an interpretation, followed by a sudden imagining of a dreamlike visual image.

Dr. Stein interpreted Mr. D's first analytic dream as representing the patient's fear of being impotent and stupid in the analysis. Dr. Stein then responded to the material as if it were the product of someone impotent, incapable of performing analytically. I disagree. In my opinion, this complex material suggested key themes of the analysis: powerful oral yearnings, anxiety about castration, fear of women, confusion about sexual identify. It also anticipated the development of a positive maternal, in this case grandmaternal, transference. Mr. D remembered with pleasure how his grandmother found him endearing and funny when she recognized his fear of eating the chocolate which had been next to her switch (a small hair piece). He then remembered having thought of himself as like a banana, soft and squishy. Central to the hour was Mr. D's wish that I, too,