Feinstein notes the ubiquitous presence of emotional illness in the James family and examines the secondary gain that was obtained from it. He observes that in addition to serving as an unconscious justification for the pleasure of travel and leisure, invalidism could also convey ambivalent feelings that were proscribed by the social ideal of the Victorian family. The paper examines the expression of such invalidism among the various members of the James family and suggests that it was a compromise between the attainment of forbidden goals and unconscious punishment for that attainment.