Through a combination of events, in particular the loss of his father at the height of a still unsatisfactorily resolved oedipus complex, anxiety became overwhelming. A regression took place, predominantly to an earlier, anal level of the organization of drives and drive-monitoring forces and structures. In terms of ego and its objects, it corresponded to a late stage of separation-individuation, with the little child's version of self-centered, omnipotent, and anally fascinated self and objects, the continuing necessity for protection and support from external adults, along with all the corresponding monstrous dangers of those early years. This seemed a safer world "worlds beyond seemed too monstrous to even imagine. But the price of a small amount of safety was terribly high: in relations with intimate objects there was endless trouble; internally, he was exposed to the continuing fantastic dangers and tragedies of childhood. .
I believe that the analytic work made unconscious regressions less necessary for Mr. T. What had been lost on conscious levels was in part restored. But I believe also that something in addition happened: a new internalization took place. I believe that in part Mr. T did "lose" the analyst (insofar as he was able to conceive him). Mr. T had to recognize my books and their implications --and he had to recognize that he kept himself a little boy in reference to them. More -- analysts do subtly alter their reactions to the infantile desires of patients, usually unconsciously and through nonverbal actions. My "yeah, yeah" was such an expression. Retrospectively, in my self-analysis, it did not seem to be a rejection of the person. Rather, it was a (muted, after all!) enactment indicating an unwillingness to settle for the old patterns of defense. .
In this instance they had been stirred by the mention of the unusually frequent use of the "I don't know" self-interrupting routines.
