Barnes raises the question whether resolution of the Oedipus complex causes special difficulties for adopted children. Memories and fantasies about the separation from the real parents intensify the anxieties that would normally occur. A case history is presented, together with guidance given the guardian of the child.

The discussants refer to the role of the family romance. Spitz postulates the basic importance of the catastrophe reaction that occurs in an infant separated from its mother; it is reawakened by subsequent 'trigger mechanism' experiences. Agreeing that analytic insight may remove secondary elaborations of the primary trauma, Spitz suggests that some 'more radical' approach may be necessary to remedy the basic insecurity.