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An engineer, aged 45 at the beginning of his analysis, very well endowed, successful at his studies, and with an excellent capacity for work, was asked in one instance after another to resign his employment. He knew that what had led to this was evidence of weaknesses in his character: a lack of self-confidence, inability to assert himself, and a pathological incapability to take responsibility.
At the first session, the patient's behaviour did not indicate such a diagnosis: he appeared entirely at his ease, exact and orderly; his attitude was that of a perfectly correct adult. At the same time, he suffered internally from great rigidity, and I learnt, later on, that he even experienced painful, continuous tensions, especially in the abdominal muscles. Mr B. had the courage to undergo, despite his age, a vocational guidance test. As a result he came to me for analysis.
When his analysis began, Mr B. had just left his position in a big industrial enterprise. Before him lay the three months he had been given in lieu of notice, in which to find a new post. It was to be hoped that during those three months, with two weekly sessions of treatment, he would arrive at a positive psychological change which would enable him to enter new employment with confidence and tranquillity of mind. Needless to say his successive failures had had the effect of making him rather “depressive”.
The eldest of three children, Mr B. was born two years before the war of 1914-18. The brother, who is younger than he by 22 months, was a very controlled child; the sister, who is six years younger, was rather aggressive as a little girl. The war separated the parents from their children, who were