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Rosen discusses the psychodynamics of various comic distortions and compares them to obsessive-compulsive phenomena in an attempt to clarify symptomformation in the latter and to make some technical suggestions for such cases. Obsessions and compulsions are said to be variants of caricature, without fun or laughter. Both are particularly rich in pregenital sadomasochism. There is, however, no conscious pleasure associated with obsessive-compulsive phenomena because, unlike comic distortions, the constituent elements, the identity of victim and aggressor and the motives for attack, have become obscured and ambiguous through isolation and disturbances in the distance of the observing function. In comic caricature the destructive and sadomasochistic drives, which are the main aims of obsessive compulsive phenomena, are attenuated and diverted to the aim of amusing the audience. In caricature not only are the sadomasochistic needs minimized, the constituent elements recognizable, and the observing distance adequate, but glimmers into primary process mechanisms are also provided. Restoration of the often impaired comic sense in the treatment of an obsessive-compulsive patient may therefore provide him with glimpses of primary process mechanisms not otherwise available and facilitate maturer, less sadomasochistic critical abilities. Laughter evoked in the patient by humorous, parodic, witty interpretations may facilitate a comic synthesis and comprehension of interpretations—especially of the transference—by impelling a more optimal observing distance as well as reflecting its achievement. Thus restored to its comic context, the genesis of an obsessional neurosis may be more clearly understood and reconstructed.