Reconstruction of the adolescent experience is an important and frequently overlooked step in the analysis of adult patients. The fact that adolescence restructures the infantile neurosis in a way that more closely resembles the adult neurosis suggests that the exploration and reconstruction of the adult patient's adolescence will facilitate his understanding of the infantile origins of his distress and heighten his conviction in the analytic experience.

A clinical example is used to illustrate how understanding the infantile origins of an adult patient's agoraphobic symptom was facilitated by reconstruction of her adolescence.