This article describes the 'incomplete analysis' of a boy of eight. Treatment lasted ten months and consisted principally of release of repressed fantasies and of interpretations of anxieties about masturbatory fantasies. The boy's relationship to school and playmates and his ability to learn and play improved. His insomnia, night terrors, and nausea and vomiting disappeared. Release of repressed masturbatory fantasies 'did not increase his masturbatory activity. Such an increase would have created serious conflicts and difficulties in a boy in the latency period, … [because] in this phase of development any sexual activity, even when very mild in its manifestations, causes strong feelings of guilt.'

The interpretations and hypothesis offered by the author are well supported by her clinical data, and a review of the literature is included.