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C is middle-aged man with a white-collar job, engaged in a disharmonious marriage. Rather often he feels dead in relation to his wife; he even feels the same way in relation to other people. He is often absent-minded and somewhat sad, but more often “empty–without content”. He has three children. In view of the circumstances, he has quite a vital relation to the youngest child, a boy in early latency.
His conscious motives for seeking psychoanalysis are the painful feeling that his marriage will soon break up, and the above-mentioned feelings of emptiness, which have increased with his increasing age. In fact, he has now reached an age and a position in his profession when he can no longer cherish any realistic hope regarding new advances in his career.
He had been in analysis twice before.
“The first analysis saved my life” he comments. He had suffered suicidal impulses following a broken love affair. He was stricken with self accusations beceause he could not tackle the relation succesfully. He emphasized that it wasn't a matter of mourning for the woman.
A friend of his being in analysis inspired him to consult an analyst.
The dominant memory from this first analysis was the analyst at one time saying: “You are like a barrel which rarely hands over a few drops”. This was said when C as usual, had been axtremely taciturn for a long