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The birth of a younger brother constitutes a pathognomonic trauma in the life of girls, productive of a primary depression and predisposing to depression in
later life. This conclusion Sperling derived from the analyses of six depressive women patients. Concise reports of two of the analyses are included in this paper to indicate the nature of the material on which the conclusions are based. In these two cases, as well as in the other material, the displacement of oral envy of the penis following the birth of a younger brother produced the primary depression. The depression could be overcome by controlling the mother and later the mother surrogates of the opposite sex. Not to be in control of the love object was synonymous with being castrated and brought on depression. Control over the object could be achieved either actively or passively. On the phallic level, active control could be achieved through possession of a penis. The feminine role was rejected as inferior and replaced by an unconscious masculinity, as indicated by masturbation fantasies. The entire body represented a phallus. Failure on this level caused regression to the oral level and attempts at passive control through the breast. The conflict in the regressed phase was internalized, and the struggle with the object was carried on by means of introjection and ejection, leading to depression.