The author claims success with a new technique derived from psychoanalytic theory: attack the punitive denial by re-enforcing the hostile feelings of the patient toward the lost object. The patient initially defends the lost object, but then is able to express negative affects as well, all of which brings the mental apparatus to bear on a problem previously held in abeyance. This technique appears rather like that involved in getting a mule to follow instructions: first you hit him over the head with a two-by-four to get his attention. It may be this aspect of the treatment that is important rather than the specific one of supporting id versus superego, as suggested by the author. In any case, clinical improvement would seem to fall into the category of transference cures; no intrapsychic shift would have occurred. The research task would be not just long-term clinical follow-up but specifically a study of how future losses are handled.