International Journal of Psychoanalysis. XLV, 1964: The Contribution of the Theory of Techniques of Child Analysis to the Understanding of Character Neuroses. S. Lebovici and R. Diatkine. Pp. 344-347.

Comment on Drs. Lebovici and Diatkine's Paper. P. J. van der Leeuw. Pp. 347-349.

Lebovici and Diatkine compare the equilibrium established by the character neurotic to that established between the child and his parents with no awareness of the anxiety involved nor of defenses against it. A disturbance by the treatment of this equilibrium provokes negative reactions that can prove difficult to manage. It is important that the analyst's attitude and interpretations be neither too gratifying nor too systematically interpretative of the nonverbal elements of behavior.

Van der Leeuw thinks that the suffering in the character neurotic is often underestimated. It is predominately linked to conflict between the ego and the superego as well as between the prohibitive and ideal aspects of the superego. In the character neurotic the feeling of illness, so necessary to a successful outcome, is absent and slow to develop in therapy. Its development depends to a great extent on the possibility of penetrating the narcissistic armor of omnipotence in the patient and in his ability to endure impotence and intense destructive impulses that result.