This book is a masterful presentation by a brilliant psychoanalyst. McDougall describes her theories in meticulous detail followed by detailed case presentations illustrating their derivation and use. However, she cautions us that clinical vignettes prove nothing: they only illustrate a theoretical conception.

The work is mainly focused on the atypical expressions of sex when sex has been infiltrated with misconceptions, hatred and fear. The sexual patterns that ensue when psychic integrity is threatened are seen as the helpless infant's primitive, unconscious life saving inventions that persist in every adult. She urges us to recognize their origins and importance for the survival of the patient.

McDougall starts by giving us the current psychoanalytic view of woman's sexual development. While agreeing with Freud's concept