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The author describes erotized phenomena as they can be observed in the analytic situation. Erotization is understood as the patient's expression of basic needs in an erotized form, often without conscious awareness. The analyst, however, may recognize the erotization in his own fantasies and countertransference reactions. Erotized needs are typically expressed as demands for gratification through concrete action. The patient's conviction that the analyst can provide what is needed in a concrete way is understood by the author as a phallic defense that affects both patient and analyst, and consequently may be very difficult to analyze.
The analyst too, in his fantasy, may picture himself as an idealized provider, in a destructive phallic position in which he has everything and the patient has nothing of her own. It is considered important that, in this situation, the analyst is able to view the patient in terms of genital mutuality. In a clinical example, the author illustrates how the concepts of phallic one-sidedness versus genital mutuality can be used to expand the analyst's understanding of erotized phenomena.