Clinical Reflections on the Psychoanalytic Concept of Character

I will describe a bit of prosaic analytic work which probably differs little from what each of us does every day. There is one unusual feature I wish to call to your attention, namely the patient: Mr. B is a 70-year-old married lawyer and father of two. To all outward appearances his was a rigidly settled character—quintessentially depressive. He described himself as “a sad sack” and this seemed an apt description for someone who had remained essentially unchanged through many years of prior treatment. The significant changes that have occurred during his present analysis raise several questions: (1) What of the relationship of age to analyzability? (2) What of the traditional notion that character hardens with age and becomes less alterable through analysis? (3) Is “character” and particularly the notion of “character types” a useful clinical concept? The following excerpts from Mr. B's analysis give us the opportunity to examine the assumptions imposed on our clinical thinking by the concept of “character.”

Mr. B entered analysis despairing of life. He seemed the embodiment of timidity, constriction, and unhappiness. His soft spoken voice and downcast eyes made him seem perpetually on the verge of tears. His clothes were as threadbare as his life, a life which consisted of endless worries and regrets. He reproached himself for his failure to achieve more professionally, which he attributed to his timidity