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An eighteen year old patient whom I analyzed in the Phipps Clinic produced the following as his first dream: He sees a water tank which he and a friend blow up. A big strong man catches them and whips them so severely that streaks of blood run down their legs. This dream was brought in the first analytical hour. Now, we know that these first dreams outline the whole life situation of the patient and point to important materials of early childhood. This I want to demonstrate in this case.
In this patient's neurosis the most striking feature is found to be his fight against his father and against his family. It is very likely that his father really was severe with him and beat him very often. As the associations show, the father did this in the same manner as the big strong man in the dream. These experiences have created in the patient a feeling of hatred against the father, desires to kill him, but they have also created too great a dependence upon the father. Throughout his life the patient needs someone to treat him badly. In other words, a masochistic, passive attitude has been created in him by this form of education. This passivity plays an important rôle in his life and makes him feel, whenever he is with someone older than himself, that the other person is influencing him, He experiences no will of his own. At the same time, he feels that he cannot remain in this masochistic, homosexual position, but that he should be more active, independent and efficient. From time to time,