Page:The Power of Sexual Surrender.pdf/150

 mind is not necessarily run by such rational considerations. When she was able to comprehend the reasons behind the apparent anomaly of her backaches and her anxiety reactions, she was close to being cured.

Joan's problem was a truly mild one. Her relationship with her husband was basically as sound as a dollar; she thought him attractive physically and respected him. She enjoyed their social life together and never felt exploited or put upon when he had to entertain his business associates. Indeed, she had a great deal of fun playing the role of hostess to them. There was no area where one could find real difficulty between Joan and her husband except in their sexual life.

This problem washed out very quickly, for it was lightly held in the soil of Joan's personality. And yet in exploring it we found it had exactly the same structure as Patricia Agnew's problem: a basic overattachment to her father that had occurred in early childhood and had not been resolved. The difference was that the attachment on Joan's part had been a much milder one than Patricia's had been, and therefore, while it did have a lingering aftereffect, it did not encompass Joan's entire personality and was therefore far easier to deal with.

There were two things that made Joan's relationship with her father less destructive than Patricia's had been. First, Joan's father was not so overpoweringly loving and attentive to the little girl during the first six years of her growth. Second, Joan's mother had a very distinctive and strong personality of her own, and Joan had had a good relationship with her all during her formative years. This neutralized to a certain extent the overstimulating effect of her father. It had allowed her to identify with her own sex in a healthy manner, to give her the feeling that it was a fine thing to be a sweetheart, wife, and mother.