Rosenzweig describes a schizophrenic male patient whose behavior expressed certain cycles which were accentuated when he received hormone treatment. The cycle comprised four phases, each lasting from a day to as much as a week. In the first phase heterosexual interests were outstanding; the second was characterized by aggressiveness directed mainly towards males; the third showed a manifest homosexual behavior; the fourth, often merged with the third, was demarcated by a cloudy state of mind.

The author parallels these phases with the development of the Oedipus complex. The heterosexual tension represents the normal adjustment in the Oedipus situation. With increasing frustration the anxiety grows; thus the aggressiveness toward father representatives of the second phase. In the third phase anxiety prevails as indicated by the giving up of heterosexual claims and the assumption of the submissive homosexual rôle towards his rivals. The fourth phase, the end of the drama, is characterized by a religious orientation.