The Seduction of Money: A Brief Note on an Expression of Transference Love

Mr. X is a sixty-year-old married, childless, wealthy retired lawyer. In the fifth year of his analysis he began a session by announcing that he was rewriting his will and would like to make me beneficiary in the amount of $250,000. When I suggested that he elaborate upon this fantasy, Mr. X became annoyed. He told me that I had helped him a great deal and was one of the most important people in his life. He wished to make my old age a bit easier. In the ensuing sessions, Mr. X became aware that, in spite of the reality of his considerable wealth, his wish to make me a beneficiary in his will expressed certain unacknowledged concerns of his own. He was anxious about being alone and uncared for as he grew older and wished I would never leave him and would instead take care of him.

Four months later Mr. X brought to his session an article on therapeutic nurseries that appeared in the newspaper. He was very touched by the report of these preventive interventions with young children and their families and expressed his wish to help. Mr. X had lost his mother as the result of a postpartum psychosis when he was six years old. He was by nature very generous and philanthropic and was moved by the article to think about how he might help develop these preventive services. Mr. X reflected on the facts that he was childless, had generously fulfilled his obligations to his alma mater, had milions of dollars to decide how to bequeath, and thought that nothing would be finer than to create a foundation to facilitate the development of these wonderful services. He related that there was no one whose judgment he respected more than mine. He wondered if I would consider being the administrator of such a