Psychotic incomprehension in borderline children stems from an initial dysjunction between their perceptual-cognitive activations and the emotions by

which these should be complemented. The emotions themselves normally subserve an informative purpose for the psyche paralleling the purpose kinesthetic and proprioceptive faculties afford to the body. This purpose is lost in these cases. The author sees her therapeutic function as one of orienting the child at all cognitive and sensory levels so that his emotional arousals may become increasingly congruent with actual, current experiences. Five months of sensitive treatment of a boy of eight years is described in some detail. The boy retained his improvement with another therapist and a follow-up three years later revealed he was functioning well and entering a belated latency at age eleven.