In this essay, Mahony presents the case history of Will, who suffers from “a higher-level narcissistic character disorder with oedipal conflicts marked by an intense castration anxiety” (p. 62). Mahony begins by reviewing the concepts of “trauma, compromise formation, and identification” (p. 63). He then goes on to describe the initial interviews and subsequent analysis of Will. Following this narrative, the author discusses in detail the wealth of data he has gathered, focusing on the patient's “multiform identificatory schema” in relation to his early parenting experience, his cumulative and acute trauma, his behavioral symptoms, and the transference and countertransference (p. 96).

At the beginning of this 48-page paper, Mahony states that his secondary aim in writing it is to defend the case history method itself, which has become something of an “endangered species” in the “intemperate world of publication,” replaced by the “more popular