Symptoms of several patients and their inability to indulge in small talk are described. Martin suggests that inhibition in 'small talk' socially and in analysis is based on disturbed object relationships and represents an unresolved transference connected with fusion and linkage fantasies, as well as defects in body image and ego and superego controls over speech. He also emphasizes oral fixations and the accompanying ego defects in speech mastery that ensue as a result of failure in adequate self-individuation. The individual is unable to indulge in small talk because the person to whom he is talking represents a threatening transference object.