After the Analysis: A Note on the Post-Termination Phase

I am reporting a case in which dramatic therapeutic changes occurred in a patient following the termination of his analysis. In addition, the patient's symptoms and life style were extremely unusual and interesting. Therefore, the case is worth reporting on its own merits.

I wish to raise a number of questions concerning what happens after an analysis. Is there a post-termination phase of analysis which should be recognized as a distinct entity with ceratin regular characteristics? If there is a post-termination phase, how can we best study it? Should we rely on haphazard and accidental followup reports of analytic cases, or are we justified in contacting former analytic patients to obtain information on the postanalytic period, and on the patient's further development?

The patient began analysis when he was thirty-seven years of age. He had been married for twelve years, but had never had sexual intercourse with his wife or with any other woman. He was moderately successful in his career, although he suffered from work inhibitions which paralleled his sexual inhibitions. He was an obsessive-compulsive character who led a rigid, restricted life, although, paradoxically, he was freethinking, and vicariously enjoyed the instinctual life of others. His major motivation for analysis was to overcome his sexual problem. His depressive moods never represented a major problem.

His wife was also a virgin. Through the years of their marriage and previously, during their courtship, they indulged in occasional