The authors describe certain agitated depressions occurring in anal-compulsive characters during their middle years and compare them to reactive depressions in normal individuals. In agitated depression, the hostility of the ego is directed against an object incorporated in early childhood; in reactive depression, against an object currently lost and then incorporated. The ego of the anal character has been successful in meeting the demands of a severe superego until the failure that precipitates the depression makes it impossible to continue to