The author offers the intriguing hypothesis that the experience of being raised by an older sibling may contain a specific and uniquely harmful element

stemming directly from the unmitigated violence of the older sibling's feelings and attitudes. Such violence is extreme because the biological and psychological immaturity of the older sibling does not permit maternal drives to temper aggressive impulses. The parental loss in such cases may tend to overshadow and obscure the importance of the dynamic constellation described. A case of a suicidal five-year-old boy, who was for the most part in the care of his eight-year-old brother, is discussed in relation to the above hypothesis.