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Peto describes a particular type of transference phenomenon which shows features of deep regression. This phenomenon occurs in patients fifteen to twenty-five years of age who have had breakdowns diagnosed as psychotic episodes. In the regressive occurrence the patient experiences fusion of his body with the body of the analyst, both bodies being liquid, or jellylike in consistency. Whether or not the regressive experience is originally in the service of aggressive or libidinal tendencies, it develops to the same point in which the patient feels a kind of nothingness. Before or after the development of this feeling the patient may experience bliss or strong anxiety, as well as tactile, kinesthetic, temperature, and vestibular sensations. Following the experience the patient's transference relationship is at an unusually high level of integration.
Peto believes that tactile, kinesthetic, temperature, and vestibular experiences in the very early development of the ego are not sufficiently stressed. Such experiences, as well as those connected with orality, are important in early ego integration and in the formation of the body image. He also implies that in the infant there are experiences that correspond to the regressed transference experiences of his patients. From one point of view these may be considered to be connected with prethinking and primitive forms of coping with the environment.