The author discusses certain changes in feeling related to body size experienced by patients in the course of psychoanalytic treatment. These changes are not accompanied by feelings of estrangement and are fleeting. They may also appear as symbols in dreams. All the patients were character neurotics, and the changes in body image appeared when either an undeniable reality or a therapeutic confrontation made the patient conscious of underlying attitudes toward objects. These attitudes were usually of an aggressive nature.

The effect of consistent confrontation with reality re-enforces the mature self. When this has achieved sufficient power, a conflict occurs between the more