To illuminate aspects of character neurosis, the author presents a study of solitude and what he considers to be its opposite, transference. Patients in this diagnostic category feel they are the loneliest of the lonely. Neyraut cites Winnicott to the effect that the capacity to be alone is an ego function and can only be mastered in the presence of another. This mastery involves the acceptance of aggression in the other; without this acceptance the relationship becomes one of transference. Therefore, it is not only the analyst's neutrality but also his intrinsic aggression that facilitates the patient's capacity to be alone.