Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 3-4.djvu/27

 A MAN'S UNCONSCIOUS PHANTASY OF PREGNANCY 281

good-will of patients, who thoroughly grasp the seriousness and unbearable character of their illness ; if actual provocation is pre- sent, it becomes important to recognise this as it arises, and to follow it with close attention. There is however a particular kind of resistance which must be regarded as constitutional, and despite intimate relation with the case of illness in hand it merits a cert- ain independent interest. It appears at an earlier age than does the disease, and plays a prominent part in the life of every healthy individual. Our patient's behaviour was markedly reserved, and as it appeared in the foreground, this provided many a tough problem in the analysis. It always seemed likely to be related to anal-erotic tendencies, and ultimately this association proved to be very intimate. Consider how great an effort has to be devoted to the education particularly of the anal sphincter in the case of every child ; one must admit then that a psychic constellation may well arise as a reaction to the pleasure-toned activity of this occlusive muscle in consequence of its decadence along with that of infantilism, and that its energy will depend on its exact source. In a very penetrating study Ernest Jones ^ has established the relation between the capacity to hate and the early and forced conquest of control over sphincters ; without attempting to tackle the question of this significant relationship, which leads us into pathology, I would record my belief that in describ- ing behaviour by the word 'reserved' [Verschlossenheit) we reveal just such a relationship. The example of the patient is particularly instructive in this respect in view of the way in which we found that just the mechanical process of defaecation had been vicrorously transmuted into character traits. I do not intend to

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pursue the connection here, and will therefore not discuss the

psychological problem of this reserved behaviour. Nevertheless I

would mention that this characteristic ranks above many anal-

■ erotic configurations as regards importance and extent ; it appears

more amenable to change, and admits of greater malleability in

V later life than do the others. It not only embraces its opposite

I together with the whole series of intermediate steps, but is also

I intimately related to important mental characters. Thus we recog-

'; nise proud, modest, self-conscious, spiteful, etc., varieties of reserved

^; behaviour in connection with each of which a corresponding

I

! 1 'Hate and Anal Erotism in the Obsessional Neurosis', Papers onPsycho-

i Analysis, 1918, p. 540.