ON .* T. C. SINHA, D, Sc,

In his writing ', Freud says 'The word narcis- sims is taken from clinical tirminology to denote the attitude of a person who treats his own body in the same way as otherwise the body of a sexual object is treated ; that is to say, he experiences sexual pleasure in gazing at caressing and fonnd- ling his body, till complete gratification ensues upon these activi- ties. Developed to this degree, narcissism has the significance of a perversion, which has absorbed the whole sexual life of the subject.' - Though this extreme degree of narcissism is pathological this is considered as a normal trait in an individual when it ' works within the normal limits. Freud has shown how this narcissism works in our other forms of self love in ego libido, object libido, in our and in our choice of things of daily life. He has incidentally mentioned that this narcissism developed from auto-eroticsm with some thing added to it. He writes... '...the autoerotic instincts are primordial ; so there must be something added to autoeroticism—some new operation in the mind—in order that narcissism may come into being'. Unfortuna- tely hs has not mentioned any thing about this 'new thing' or some new operation in the mind' which caused narcissism to come into being. An attempt may be made to probe into this mechanism. In the strict sense, in the autoerotic state of the mind, we presume, there is no clear reference to any stimulus causing either pleasure or pain, nor there is any clear reference to the 'body part or organ being the medium of such pleasure or pain./ Such experience at that level may be well compared with the concept of sensation in psychology. In the next stage gradually a process developes mainly from experience, wherefrom a causal relationship is established. For this relationship to grow we are

" Read before the Indian Psycho-analytical Societty in the year I960, T. C. SIN HA SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1 ] ON NARCISSISM to admit the potential capacity of- the mind to relate the source (also liking) It is not necessary to try to analyse this love of stimulus with the resulting reaction. In the early stage of further here. Only it will be sufficient to remember that two development such attempts and conclusions are not necesarily main desires in loye are (1) to give and (2) to get. In the first correct. Due to want of proper physical development better desire the narcissisric libido is changed into object libido. Accor- knowledge of the reality as aiso due to lesser capacity for ding to Bose a subject-object relationship is establised, where the rational thinking at that early stage, many faulty conclusions opposite wishes play their part. In the love siutation there the are drawn by the child. In the case of primitive people such ^object libido is nothing but ego-libido projected on to the object faulty conclusions are found to exist even in their matured and transformed into object libido. In other words, it is the adult stage. For instance some of the tribes of Polynesia fulfilment of the same narcissism in an objective situation. Both believe that pregnancy takes place when a woman takes a in the self-love and object-love it is the same narcissism playing dip in a particular lake or a particular corner of the I its part, either directly or through another medium by projection sea. Also a certain group of the Garos and Megams of Assam and identification. In this love situation a special kind of tie believe that if any young woman passes under a particular tree, grows with a tendency to overvaluation of the loved object. where the Mimangs or the souls of the dead persons are believed We may call this tie-fascination. The most important factor to reside, may become pregnant. The process, that they say, is ^.in the developement of narcissism is this fascination factor that seeing the young woman a particular mimang takes a fancy towards the self. Without this mental functioning narcissism for her and enters her womb. So the young woman who does can not be conceived of. Existence of a mere desire is not not like to be pregnant usually avoid passing under that tree. enough to explain the. tiue picture as is witnessed in love. But If however, that becomes unavoidable she walks in a bent posture, the pining for and the fascination for the object continues stooping forward, to give the idea of her old age to the mimangs resulting in the development of the tie with the object-love residing on the tree. They say the mimangs have no liking for which in its wake demands repeated fulfilment of pleasure. This an old woman therefore they do not enter the womb of an old /fascination is an important factor in a situation of love and woman and thus by the false pose of old age the young woman is a continuous process. When particular desire is satisfied this escapes from being pregnant With the spread of modern fascination does not necessarily die out but is often entranced, scientific knowledge such beliefs are becoming more rare. Inciden- though under some circumstances the fascination may appear to tally mention may be made of the belief in magic and various be less strong. This fascination is very similar to what is known other similar powers even in the members of the modern societies, as 'Moha' in Indian Philosophy. This fascination factor of the and in mental patients. I have digressed a little from the original mind binds us with the outer world makes it appear valuable point, to clarify the statement. Let me again come back to desirable and good on the one hand and on the other due to our point of discussion. As the causal relationship slowly but the influence of what has been said as ego-libido, the ego gradually developes, the pleasure-pain principle comes in the appears to be over valuable showing megalomanic ideas. It is field and the discriminatory power and desire also developes considered to be of great value for the beings of this world. / along with the development of the ego. Anxiety is felt at the This marcissism then makes it possible for us to find pleasure indication of any approach to a painful situation which the mind and happiness in this world in a colourful manner, when it works tries to avoid. We may say a negative relationship is gradually •^in the normal way. This also gives rise to what is known as established in the mind with reference to such objects and the self-regard. Later we shall come to this question of a brief situations. But in the situation of pleasure a particular type comparision of narcissism and moha. of positive relationship is established, which we may call love For the present I shall pass on to another aspect of T. C. SINHA [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1 ] ON NARCISSISM narcissism. Even in the primary narcissistic stage ego libido causes Upanished, such as (God pervades everything that is there in self-evaluation. In paranoid and other paranoid states that the mego- this creation ) or (Whatever is, is God) on the one hand lomanic delusions have their root in this narcissistic stage, is well and and on the other hand with (Atman) or Brahma is known. Sense of prestige has the same narcissistic libido at its root. smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest) where the It is usually said that the feeling of insult is the product of repressed patient assumed the omnipotent role in a round about way but passive homosexuality. But unless the association of the narcissistic not as a defence. componant repressed with the homosexual desire is taken into The are mental cases who show strong narcissistic tendencies consideration the idea of the loss of prestige or the feeling of insult and are more mindful of the wish to get than to give, often to give can not be satisfactorily explained. Repressed homosexuaity may ' for them, is not only difficult but also entails some serious loss result- bring about the idea of danger, injury etc. but not of the loss of ing in devaluation of the ego or a sense of self devaluation. Whenever self value. In the passive homosexual situation when the narcissistic narcissism takes such a form, we find exixtence of some form of component is not injured the subject may happily accept the anxiety or guarding against any offering by the individual. It submissive situation when the danger of homosexual assault does not is not normal narcissism. It may rather be said to be a craving for interfere. A situation of submission by itself does not cause any narcissism. A craving like this can be there only when one feels difficulty when the narcissisti libido is well adjusted. - A borderland the want of the basic narcissism. It is difficult to know where from psychoneurotic young male patient in his early associations during or from what real want, repression or frustration this sense of analysis showed strong resistance against passive homosexual dificiency may result. It has been suggested that it arises from the tendencies and was suffering from constant anxiety symptoms. When feeling of the child or its failure to receive the desired amount and the narcissistic component of the passive homosexuality was adjusted quality of parental love. Experience shows that this explanation the patient had no idea of injury, pain, or sense of ego devaluation does not hold good in all cases. Nurtured in a situation of what associated with the active or passive homosexual situations. At is usually considered as abundance of love of the parents, in the this stage it was possible for him to conceive himself as gradually childhood, one may still feel hollow and less valuable about oneself. becoming smaller and smaller in size, till he became a tiny object It is therefore, not the objective qualitative or quantitive want or like a point. From this state he further reduced himself till at abundance, of love but the subjective estimation of it by the child last he lost his seperate existence and became merged in this is what counts. Even love of parents may appear to the child as universe. There he had no seperate existence, he became one limiting his own freedom causing frustration and ultimately resulting with the universe, in this phantasy. On another occasion he fancied in ego devaluation. What really makes him feel positively con- himself becoming larger and larger till at least he felt himself tented at that stage is not known. Whether any early bodily perveding the whole universe and ultimately transformed and condition such as chemical, organic, other physical ailment or any identified with the universe itself, ^{p both these situations he had no anxiety. I have noticed similar mechanism in a few inherent factor in the men* A make up, is responsible for such a other cases, both male and female who showed similar trends in reaction pattern, is not known. Probably both the factors have their associations. It is important to note how both small and big their contributions in this development. We may speculate that in in their extreme conceptions became practically one and the same some cases the one factor and in some other cases the other factors in the cases of the patients mentioned above i e., in that situations or in yet other cases both these factors are responsible for the the, ego becomes the omnipotent self. It has a close similarity with particular reaction pattern of the child in the given situation of the infantile primary narcissism indicated by Freud. This mental love. state has in certain aspects a close resemblance to the sayings of We may now try to see the problem of this sense of impo- verished selfvalue from another angla. We may consider the T. C. SINHA [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1] ON NARCISSISM situation where I feel contented and full. A common example of Moha (i. e. fascination ) of the Indian thought. According to the this is when one is in love. The usual normal attitude in such Indian school of thought Moha binds us down with other objects of moments is that of generosity. I do not feel it a loss to give some- /the world with a peculiar fascinating tie. As a result of this the thing to some one nor any sense of insecurity or anxiety then disturbs world appears rosy and I consider myself important and valuable. me except when it directly or indirectly concerns the loss of the Also I try to create a vast net-work of % and 'mine' around me. love objects. When I am happy and contented with myself I am The condition is very much similar to the hallowed narcissistic stage also happy to give without any sense of loss to the ego. But it is of a child which more or less continues throughout one's life. It is not so when I am not contented. It is said that one becomes large claimed that true Nirvana or freedom comes when along with hearted when one is happy and contented, when the conflicts are other factors this 'MOHA' is removed or dissolved. It is also j eased in and repression are removed and adjusted. Libido flows claimed that when this moha is removed only then one can know normally under such condition. When repressed desires in the truth., i. e. Brahma. We can try to contemplate such a / situation creates conflict the feeling of contentment does not develop, situation from the standpoint of psychoanalysis very briefly touch- as a result of which a sense of want accompanying the lowering of ing only one or two more important points here and reserve further self value troubles us and the ego libido can not flow normally. So detailed discussion of it for another paper. According to Indian narcissistic anxiety is really due to some sort of an idea • of Philosophy, the six basic activating principles or propensities of the / want of proper narcissism or of blockade of it, not because miud viz. sex, anger, greed, fascination, and exaltation, though the individual is strongly narcissistic. We thus may assume two different in nature, they' have a natural relationship. Only on the . types of narcissism. One normal and the other defensive in character. proper controlling of these drives can help one to achieve the truth. The exaggerated expression of demand for one's own self is a Isolated full control of any one of them is not perhaps case of manifestation of such defensive narcissisn, where mostly possible. When all of these desires properly are controlled, the the patient is more busy to fill in than to pour out, This may also • subjective overvaluation undervaluation or distortion of the / be due to some repression or other factors as we have suggested object also disappears. It is then that we can gain the earlier. It is also possible, and very likely it is true, that at proper knowledge of the object in its true perspective. the root of it all is the question of some defective develop- It is known how our desires and attitudes distort the object. /ment in the autoerotic state. If the autoerotic development Over valuation of the object of love and destructive distortion of is normal and healthy the character formation of the individual the object in hate, are common examples of it from our every day receiving normal contribution from the other stages of the libido life. From the psychoanalytical point of view it may be said that development is more likely to be normal and healthy too. The when the conflict of the mind have been resolved the fascination importance of autoerotic stage of libido development with (Moha), which is directly connected with narcissism, loses its particular reference to the vague engulfing anxiety felt by the influence over mind's judgement, because the reality can now be weak ego at that stage has not yet been properly assessed in understood objectively. The situation, then, is not absence of love psycho-analytic literature. I had suggested in one of my earlier or pain. But the excessive emotional flow which is seen when a paper that this autoerotic stage of mind should be studied in pent up desire finds its outlet, is not witnessed in this adjusted further detail and with more care. Psychoanalysis may gain new situation. There is no drying out of love or pleasures of life. There / and basic%knowledge about the later stages of the libidinal develop- is an apprehension even amongst many educated people that psy- ment as well as of the development of ego from this study. choanalysis by disolving the complexes of mind saps the pleasure and Before concluding the paper I shall once again go back' to the charm of life. From the more clear understanding of the nature of promised comparision in brief of one aspect of narcissism with the creation around us, i.e. of the reality, a more stable from of joy T. C, SIN HA f SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 2 3 ON NARCISSISM of contentment and knowledge is derived which is not easily disturbed than the earlier stages. It can not be however, denied that this by events and happening of the ever changing environmental situa- 'prem' has its roots buried into the earlier and deeper layer of primary tions of the world. I know then that the flower I have so earnestly narcissism. It has drawn further capital from the secondary longed to bloom, so dearly cherished, will perish in a few day's time narcissism and has advanced further to develop into this matured never to bloom again. My pleasure or joy is none the less for this state where, as has been mentioned, its aim is no longer directed to knowledge. I can, in the absence of conflicts enjoy it more fully as the field of love but is shifted to the field of good. long as I have it and be contented. That is to say we can then enjoy the moment without any apprehension attached to it. Where there is no improper demand of desire, there is no ground for any lamen- tation for a frustration nor any anxiety to develop. Our repressed /complexes vitiate our knowledge of the reality. The world then appears differently to us.- Under the influence of conflicts of re- pressed . whish.es, the idea of the ego as well as of the outer reality, including that of the personal body, undergo a transformation which is very similar to the mechanism of dream formation. As a matter of fact psychoanalysis aims at such clear understanding of the workings of this mind and of the reality by removing the conflicts and repre- , ssions etc. The narcissism that still remains at that state of mental adjustment is a from of more free and fuller narcissism than what is commonly and usually understood by it. If however, the conno- tation of the word Narcissism is restricted to the prevailing limited sense alone, then in the absence of any other psychoanalytical word in use we may adopt the word 'prem' to denote this modified from > of Narcissism, in the sense of unfacinated love as is accepted by the Hindu Philosophers. At this mental state one is not much interested either to bve or to receive love. He is then given to think, wish and act for general good. The subjective ego easily flows out to form the objective ego and thus have consideration for others. It will be easily understood that this mental state is not identical with the one met with in persons who can not enjoy a situation directly except through identification with others, due to repression. The general sense of sympathy and oneness, something of the 'oceanic' feeling described by Freud dominate the mental field. It should not be confused with the defensive magalomanic tendency of our mind nor with the infantile primary narcissism although it may have some superficial similarly with them, but this mental state of 'PREM' is a much richer and more maturedly evolved mental state Vol. 18, No. l ] THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 11 Father We have never met Martin's father. Martin rarely mentions THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS him and it is clear that his position in the family is an inferior one. The mother does not often talk of the father, or of bis relationship JOYCE ROBERTSON with Martin, but when she does it is in a derogatory way. He Some Limits Set by the Personality of the Mother is not very masculine or adventurous and possesses none of the The interaction between mother and child in the first years sterling qualities which she claims for her own personality. He of life a topic of great interest to all members of our organisation. makes a great fuss about physical discomfort, even the smallest So far as the Clinic's analysts and therapists are concerned, the injury, and is unable to rise to the emergencies which occur happenings of the early year are reconstructed painstakingly by in day to day family life, i. e. he could not help to care for them on the basis of the material gained from the children's analyses Martin when the mother was ill. and supplemented from the histories "supplied, not always reliably, by the mothers. In contrast to this, the workers in the Well Baby Mother Clinic are in the fortunate position to observe the mother-child When the mother was in her early twenties she began • relationship as it develops under their eyes. Even though contact training as a doctor ; but this was stopped by the war and instead with the mother-child couples is on the whole no more than a weekly she became a nurse— efficient and highly regarded by the doctors or fortnightly one (greater frequency being brought about occasio- with whom she worked. She married at 32 and Martin was nally by an immediate need), the regularity of the visits over a period conceived 8 years later. She was then having diagnostic X-Rays of several years makes it possible to assess to a certain degree the for colitis ulcerosa. The pregnancy was 5 months advanced before impact of the mother's personality on her infant. it was diagnosed, by which time she had had 50 X-Rays. From this point of view, three mother-child couples are reported on in this paper. In each instance the mother is devoted to her Martin's Babyhood. child, attends the Clinic regularly and is in a positive relationship to Martin did not come to us until he was 18 months old, the Clinic staff. Although this is a situation in which maximum so what we know of his early development is reconstructed from guidance can be given to the mother and best possible development what his mother told us and what we learned of her attitudes. ensured for the child, the material presented here will highlight some Martin was an easy child who slept a lot, who put on weight of the ways in which each mother by her personality hinders or very quickly after the first month, and who became a heavy toddler. or furthers our efforts. He cut his first tooth at 6 months ; and had all sixteen by 14 months. He sat up at 6 months with help and could sit alone at A. A Rigid Obsessional Mother 9 months. There was nothing in the mother's reports to suggest The first child is Martin, now aged 3\ years. He has been innate backwardness. attending the Clinic regularly since he was 18 months old. He was From this point his development began to alow up and it is brought because his mother was dissatisfied with his development. not difficult to understand Vhy. The lack of initiative of which She complained that he was not walking or talking, was cowardly, his mother complained appeared to be the result of her handling of unmanly, unadventurous, fussy, unable to tolerate the mildest pain— him. She had trained Martin not to do anything until she had and in a nutshell "so like his father." She added to this—"They are given her approval and she was proud of his ability to understand like princesses—who would feel a pea under 10 mattresses." and be governed by her prohibitions. She did not, as another 12 JOYCE ROBERTSON [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1 ] THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 13 parent would do, remove precious objects and thereby avoid the need Slow development to restrain the child ; she belived in the value of prohibitions to teach the child obedience, and by 18 months had achieved her object. At 20 months Martin was undoubtedly slow in muscular During his infancy Martin suffered no neglect in the physical development and in speech and his mother could not be blamed for sense, was kept scrupulously clean and warm, was fed according showing some impatience. Her impatience hid some measure of to the book, and routine generally had played a big part. But he of anxiety lest her child had been damaged by the X-Rays she had almost certainly lacked stimulation. The mother had said, "I can't during the first months of pregnancy, and at first it seemed that this play and talk to babies the way that some people do" and at another anxiety might have been the predpminant cause of the. excessive time, "I let Martin develop at his own pace—I don't believe in demands she made on her son. We were strengthened in this teaching him things". charitable thought when Martin began walking at 22 months. He Our first impression was of a plump, placid child of 18 months fared better in his mother's eyes when the gap between him and who crawled freely and could stand up, but only occasionally did so. his peers was to large extent bridged by his being able to walk. He did not talk although he made communicative sounds and And when at 2 years 3 months he became reliably clean and dry gestures and was very friendly. we saw a further lifting of some of the pressures from him. He made intelligent use of the toys and always included an adult into his play by smiles. But he had little opportunity to Mother's attitude towards aggression. pursue his own interests, at his own level. He was constantly under At this time he showed some pleasure in his achievements' and the stern control of his mother and waited for her approval before some signs of determination and aggression. He held on to a toy he moved or touched or explored. He had to wave bye-bye, which had attracted him, and once threw ,a temper tantrum when smile 'hallo', keep clean, stop dribbling, not throw toys, and not frustrated. But his mother was not able to tolerate this kind of create untidiness with his bricks. behaviour for long, and a month later she told us she had pulled His mother, although friendly and unaggressive and devoted to Martin's hair because he had pulled the hair of another. She added Martin's welfere, was obsessional and rigid in her handling of him. that when he then began pinching she found it distasteful to have to We were soon able to define the three main features in this pinch him back but had done it for his own good. When her methods mother's handling which gave us cause for concern, and which of dealing with this phase of development were discussed her main continue to do so, They are :— reaction was one of sadness that her child could develop such (1) On the one hand she has the conscious desire to have a manly disagreeable traits. boy, but on the other hand she crushes immediately any sign of masculinity. Mother's high demands. (2) She makes high demands for good social behaviour—politeness, The mother's high demands and Martin's efforts to meet them cleanliness, obedience, control of aggression—but shows no and keep her approval were exemplified on an occasion when he was appreciation of his efforts and achievements. 23 months old, a babyish toddler. He had hurt his arm and had to (3) She constantly and in his presence expresses disappointment in be examined by the doctor. The doctor needed to know to what his efforts at speech, muscular control, and lack of masculine extent he could use his fingers, hand, wrist, and arm. Martindid every- attributes. thing that was asked of him in a most adult way. He made attempts As a result Martin was preoccupied with the need to meet the to use his hand to touch a sweet and to lift it to his mouth, whim- demands made on him by his mother and thereby to keep her pering with pain and only giving up when his hand and arm trembled. approval. After each attempt he smiled around at the adults in turn to get. the 14 JOYCE ROBERTSON [ SAMIKSA Vol, I8N0.I] THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 15 smiles of approval which mean so much to him. His behaviour was boy, with curly hair, large blue eyes and a ready smile. His mouth as controlled as that of an adult in a similar situation, with the is of generous size but seems larger because it is held loosely open the beseeching smile as a bizarre addition. and he dribbles more than is usual for a three year old. He is Martin needed comforting and not want to be left to play on plump and soft and this physical softness has its counterpart in his the floor. He whimpered to be lifted up but his mother gently yet personality. He lacks initiative, is timid and conforming, fussy and firmly pushed him off, insisting that he walk. When he fell she unaggressive, and has an exaggerated need to win smiles and approval stood by and encouraged him to get up alone ; but without the use from everyone, especially from his mother. Martin has always been of his right arm this was quite beyond him. Not until the doctor dressed in pale colours, with white predominating, and this is still so, intervened did she help her child to his feet. down to his dapper white boots. He always looks clean and tidy, his expression sweet and unclouded by discontent. His movements Smile. are gentle He shows preference for play with dolls and often wears Martin's friendliness and • his^ ready smile were a source of a necklace. pleasure to his mother and she often says that this feature of his At nursery school he is never aggressive, neither can he defend character is his saving grace. He smiles his way through every himself. His mother's comment was, "How can he be expected to situation—through his failures, through his mother's criticisms, as defend himself ? he has not been with other children, therefore he well as in response to any interest that is shown in him. couldn't learn to be aggressive. He has only been with me and he On his first visit he reacted to us with easy and immediate couldn't push me". We know that his earlier attempts at expression smiles. His mother said he made efforts to get smiles from everyone of aggression, biting, hair-pulling etc., were met by immediate along the road, and that he showed concern and disappointment retaliation by his mother. His attempts at muscular expression, when he did not get this response. Our understanding of the smiles which would give him a more boyish air, have been squashed. His was clearer when we realised that this aspect of his character was early attempts at standing and walking were never appreciated by the one of which his mother totally approved. This easy smile his mother ; they were too slow and too imperfect for her. She was brought its reward not only from his mother but also from the always wanting to push him to the next stage before he was ready people around him. Unlike the more secure toddler he did not show for it. Many times »e watched his discomfort at being made to per- much variation in mood. form inadequately and without pleasure, feats such as standing alone By the time Martin was 3 years old he had developed a warm which, had his mother been able to wait for a few days, could have sense of fun, so that to play with him was a delight. But again our been performed with a feeling of pleasure and accomplishment. She concern was twofold, one that his humour was so all-embracing that could not, or did not, wait, and she could not afford him any feeling it left little room for other affect, and secondly that he was begin- of pride in his achievements. His later attempts at jumping, climbing, ning to clown. When he began to talk—well after his third birthday kicking a ball, all met the same fate—a belittling of his efforts and a —his speech was punctuated in an extraordinary way by the word lack of appreciation of his achievements. Because at 3|-he is afraid 'funny' which he seemed to apply to almost every situation. His to attempt muscular feats, she jeers at him and calls him cowardly. mother confirmed this by saying appreciatively "He draws the humour Because his initiative is held in check by her prohibitions he is called from every situation, even if there is nothing funny to be found." unadventurous. Martin remains good-humoured and smiles and clowns his way Girlishness. through it all. This his mother allows him. We have stood by Over the years an impression of girlishness has built up and now helplessly and have watched this development which has continued at 3J years is of serious concern. Martin is a likeable, friendly little in the same direction since we first saw this mother and child. Our 16 JOYCE ROBERTSON [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18 No. 1 ] THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 17 influence has not altered the main trend of his development. other put forward. But there was always an aura of unity and Although in discussion she seems to understard and accept intelle- affection, and their combined interest was directed towards the baby. ctually where her attitude is needing correction she cannot or will The first three months were very difficult. The mother was not carry over the principle to the next situation, overwhelmed by her own miseries and those of her rather ugly, In our opinion her rigid obsessional character would not have wizened little baby, who cried continuously. His expression was a responded to more intensive mother guidance either. She was mirrored reflection of his unhappy mother's. He responded to being producing the only kind of male which she could tolerate—namely an talked to, but usually cried at the point where another baby would inferior one. Nothing less than a personal analysis for the mother have smiled. He smiled late. would be effective but she has no desire for change in her character. We gave the mother as much of our time as she wanted during In her eyes she is an efficient, intelligent person fully in command of these early weeks and she made full use of us, coming to the Clinic herself. She has chosen for herself a husband whom she can dominate weekly and telephoning between times at every moment of crisis. and disapprove of, is well on the way to producing his counterpart The first facts to emerge were that at the mother's request, in Martin. When analytic treatment was suggested for the child the baby had never been put to the breast and that she had felt the mother answered, "Martin is such a friendly happy child"—in depressed for the first few days. She explained that the idea of short he is the child that his mother wants. She has managed to breast feeding had so revolted her that she decided, during her crush all unwanted features and has encouraged the characteristics pregnancy, to put the baby straight on to a bottle, and had done which she can tolerate. .so. She herself connected the two things as cause and effect, but quickly brushed aside the idea and changed the subject. With our B. An Immature Mother present knowledge of the mother it seems likely that had someone The story of Maurice and his mother is in direct contrast to taken the trouble to talk to her and to help her over the initial that of Martin. This mother was 21 years of age, immature and stages of breast feeding, this bad start could have been avoided. indecisive and could be guided easily to the advantage of herself and However when the family came to us the baby was 6 weeks old her child. When we first saw Maurice, he was only 6 weeks old. and the possibility had passed. He was miserable and crying a lot, and the metier could not cope For the first few months the mother's attitude was one of with him. She was in a post-natal state of indecision and tearfulness, uncertainty. She felt surrounded by criticism from neighbours and aggravated by immaturity and inexperience. The father was young family which she could not answer. The problem that was uppermost also and not mature enough to give his wife much support. But he was the crying of the baby. Should he be left to cry and thereby seemed aware of the immaturity of his wife and often said in a learn the first and, according to the neighbours, most important lesson protective tone, "Be careful, don't drop the baby", or "Don't lean of his life—that there are more important demands than his ?- The too far out of the window". These were not jokes ; they were mother did not like to see the baby unhappy, but the neighbours real and needed warnings. Being so like adolescents themselves, the were quick to warn of the dangers of spoiling him and to see in the mother especially, neither of them seemed ready to answer to the mother's 'giving in' evidence of her weakness of character. needs of a young baby. The second problem was feeding, and was again one of fearing The father always accompanied his wife to the Clinic, whether criticism if she 'gave in' and satisfied the baby. Maurice's weight at her insistence or because he didn't think her capable of coming gain was always good, but even so the mother thought he seemed alone we didn't know. They bickered and wrestled throughout the unsatisfied after a meal. Since we know that these specially hungry consultation, kicking each other under the table and making rude babies exist, she was encouraged to act on her judgement and faces to emphasise the wrongness of the actions or theories that the increase the amount of food. 3 Vol. 18 No. 1 ] THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 19 18 JOYCE ROBERTSON [ SAMIKSA because her thoughts ran so close to Maurice's actions. Her story Our opinion that she knew her baby best, that she was right was that after seeing Maurice pulling himself up by the legs of the to follow her feelings in answering to his needs, to comfort him when trolley she had a mental picture of him sitting on the trolley. Two he cried and to feed him when he seemed hungry, served to minutes later, when she entered the room, Maurice had in fact reinforce the fragment of self- that she was beginning climbed on to the trolley. On another occasion after she left him to show. playing with his push-chair she had the mental picture of him Gradually an improvement set in. The baby thrived, took climbing into it. A minute later she returned to the room to find his food well and put on weight. The mother's confidence grew that Maurice had in fact climbed into the chair. We saw in this and the expression of both mother and baby lightened. a further development of her with the child and her When at 3J months Maurice was due for vaccination there growing ability to anticipate and meet his needs. was all round consternation, on our part because the recent and Maurice has always been handled in a haphazard way, He is precarious stability of this mother and child might well suffer a set- grasped by whichever limb presents itself and has many times back if the baby became upset for any length of time, and on the narrowly escaped falling from his mother's knee. When recently one parents' part because neither of them wanted to be part of this particular bit of rough handling was commented on she rightly said attack on the child. At the vital moment the father disappeared to "Oh, he's used to it". And looking at this sturdy, friendly boy, fetch something from his car, leaving his protesting wife at our mercy. we realized that he was quite unperturbed by it. This rough She too would have disappeared had she been able to, but we held handling has its counterpart in their games together. He is swung her with the promise that the assistant would take over from high and swung low, he is bounced and tickled. her if necessary. With encouragement she held her child for the When at 1 year old Maurice became acutely ill his mother's vaccination, and fortunately Maurice did not cry, nor did he handling changed. Although frightened and upset herself she soothed have a strong reaction. It was of significance to this mother that and rocked him, lifted him with all the gentleness that was called she had not failed at this time and all three of them survived the for, and was able to keep her own anxiety in the background and experience with only a temporary drop in spirits all round. second to Maurice's unhappiness. Maurice recovered very quickly Every opportunity was taken to boost her intuitive feelings, to and his mother was surprised and pleased with herself that she help her withstand the advice and criticism of family and friends. had managed to steer him through this illness. She responded well to this and could increasingly answer to Maurice's This mother quickly gets frightened and overwhelmed at. the needs in a direct way. She was less affected by the 'old wives first sign that the child is less than one hundred per cent well in warnings' about the dangers of spoiling the baby. health and spirits, as she did on that occasion. Her telephone calls, An instance of her growing capacity to follow her own judge- which far outnumber those made by any other mother, are evidence ment occurred when Maurice was between 7 and 8 months old. He of this. But she always seeks our help and when it brings about the was used to having a bottle of milk at 10 p. m. and the family warned desired results and also runs contrary to the advice offered by her her not to allow him to become fond of this treat. She on the other family, she swells with childish pride. hand felt she should take account of the special satisfaction he seemed At 1 year old Maurice is alert, responsive, lively and active. to get from the late feed. Maurice kept his bottle. Later she He has adapted to the inexpert handling of his mother, he has became aware that Maurice was bored if left alone for very long in enjoyed and benefited from the play and stimulation which came his pram in the garden. She took from this that he needed company, naturally to his youthful parents, and a good warm relationship has so she played with him much more although according to the developed between them. neighbours this too was spoiling him. But when we see the parents playing with the Clinic toys, Recently she asked whether we thought she had a sixth sense, 20 JOYCE ROBERTSON [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18 No. 1 THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 21 showing almost equal pleasure with their son when they complete a growing up which she was sharing with Paul. For him,, each simple puzzle, and when we watch their adolescent antics, we wonder achievement had the added pleasure of his mother's delight. She whether they will be able to grow up fast enough to reach the stage was usually a steg behind him in her expectations, so that her pleased of maturity which Maurice will need from them very soon. attitude also contained an element of surprise at his cleverness. She enjoyed his discovery of new abilities, new experiences, and the C. A. Spontaneous and Flexible Mother. expression of new feelings. The third is a young mother whose devotion is happily linked to an ability to recognise and respond both warmly and directly to Communication. the needs of her children. She came to the Clinic when Paul, her From the beginning there was a ready and changing method of first child, was 6 weeks old, at the suggestion of her mother-in-law communication between mother and child. In the first weeks she who told us that the young mother was not enjoying her baby always held his foot or his hand even if she was not looking at or because she was worried and uncertain. When Paul was 20 months talking to him. Later this was accompanied by a great deal of old a second baby, a girl was born and she too has been brought to talking, looking and smiling. Paul smiled early and showed an early the Clinic. awareness of facial expression and tone of voice. By 11 weeks his Our first impression of this young mother was a good one. interest and energy were focussed almost entirely on his mother and We liked her lively expressive face, her friendly personality and the he elicited an equally intense response from her. uninhibited pride and pleasure which she showed in her baby—always At this time it was difficult to test the focussing of his eye on laughing a little at her own naivety. She behaved as though this to an object? because he always looked through the object and found were the only baby in the world, and enjoyed being so absorbed in the face beyond it. (This was in direct contrast to another infant him. She is Spanish, one of a family of thirteen. She came to attending the Clinic at this time—an infant who would focus on England when she was 20 to escape having to marry the man her to an object but whose gaze could not be held by a person. father had chosen for her and married a Jewish man whom she This infant had a very . disinterested mother who shared her care met in this country. He is a tall, good-looking, very masculine man with a nanny). By 16 weeks of age Paul was differentiating whose physique she much admires. When seen together they gave between family and strangers, between serious expressions and an impression of having a youthful affectionate interest in each smiling ones. other and a shared feeling of pleasure in the baby. The father When his methods of communication became more varied handled the baby with confidence and unselfconscious tenderness. his mother's too incorporated the change. This was impressed on It was he who said with realism, "babies are like toothbrushes—all me when Paul was 14 weeks old. As I greeted them in the very much the same, yet we all prefer our own". waiting room Paul was babbling and his mother talking to him softly in a language I didn't recognise. I assumed that she was Pleasure in his development. talking to him in Spanish, her native tongue ; but she said, "'Oh We have always been impressed by this mother's ability to no, he wouldn't understand Spanish—I talk to him in his own baby find pleasure in her son's development. Every new phase or anticipa- language". ted development fills her with pride—his first taste of carrots, his first As Paul grew older and could toddle away from his mother, drink from a cup, his increasing bodily movements, the first time he this ready communication was unaffected by the distance between kicked off his blankets and felt the warm sun on his legs, the them. Even when he was playing at the far end of the room discovery of his body, and later his growing boyishness and indepen- Paul had only to look up, hold out a hand to show his newest dence. She looked forward with a sense of fun to the adventure of find and his mother was ready with her response—a raised eyebrow, JOYCE ROBERTSON [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18 No. 1 3 THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 23

a smile or a word which spanned the distance between them, evidence of this. The father was away from home and Paul wanted Paul's ability to play at a distance from his mother could have been to sleep in his mother's bed. She said she had not allowed him to interpreted as independence, but in fact it indicated phek closeness and do so, but added with some show of guilt, "I have a confession to not his independence. make though". The confession was in fact never made, but by a ' This spontaneous quick response, so advantageous in the next little reconstruction we were fairly sure that Paul had been taken two years. For instance when provoked by Paul she smacks him into her bed for a morning cuddle before they got up. Here we "before I know it, before I have had time to think that this is not saw her awareness making her more guilty than was necessary. the best method of handling him". Another example is that she will suddenly rush him to the. JEmpathy toilet because she has seen some sign unnoticed by us that indicates Her ability to empathise with her children, and her lack of he is about to defecate or urinate. This may tie him unnecessarily resistance when difficulties were discussed, made her an ideal mother long to being the passive partner in toilet training. for Clinic guidance. So easy and indeed pleasureable has guidance been, that we have many times asked ourselves whether this mother Pride in his masculinity. would have been just as adequate without it. Looking back over We mentioned earlier the masculinity and physique of the the two years and remembering the various discussions that have father and source of delight this is to his wife. She is also proud taken place, we believe that without our help she would have made of Paul's masculinity and has fostered it. On one of their first more mistakes on Paul, her first child, and that this would have visits, when Paul was just a few weeks old, she remarked on lessened her enjoyment of him. the blue knitted suit she had made to enhance his boyishness. For instance, on one occasion there was conflict between her His looks, his movements, his play, have always suggested boyishness maternal intuition and what she had learned as a hospital nurse. and have delighted his mother. It is as though she and Paul When Paul was only 7 weeks old he had periods of crying for no have worked together to produce between them a real boy—each apparent reason. She half-heartedly proposed to avoid spoiling him step that he has made has been welcomed by "her and encouraged to "cry it out". But the merest suggestion from us that her maternal onwards. feelings were the better guide was enough to free her natural This mother's pride in her son's masculinity has served him inclination to comfort him. well, but for some time her pleasure in his boyish body seemed At other times she almost made mistakes because she had a possible danger. She touched and caressed his body, including insufficient knowledge of the child's psychological needs. When his genitals, quite uninhibitedly. The inadvisability of over— given this knowledge she could use it positively. For instance when stimulating his body was discussed. She reacted by saying she had Paul was 4 months old she arrived looking drwawn and complaining heard that young children have genital sensations but that she of feeling ill. She wanted to stop breast feeding immediately. Paul had not really believed this. When during this consultation had been vaccinated the week previously and the reaction was just Paul touched his penis, the mother's pride and interest shifted setting in. The dangers of sudden weaning, especially during illness, slightly ; she now shared his pleasure in the achievement of were discussed and she was encouraged to continue breast-feeding finding his penis. She continued to fondle him. but laughingly over the following week. Here right to feel tired at the peak of made efforts to avoid over-stimulation. That was when he was breast feeding was sympathised with, and relief promised in the quick 5% months old. addition of solids and a planned" weaning. She has remained aware of the need to control her delight in During the reaction to vaccination the baby refused every- Paul's body, and recently when he was 22 months old we saw thing except the breast. The satisfaction the mother got from this 24 JOYCE ROBERTSON [ SAMIKSA Vol 18 No. 1.1 THREE DEVOTED MOTHERS 25 cemented the breast feeding situation and the early weaning never whether as a reaction to the separation or because he did not recog- to'ok place. nise her behind the bandage we do not know. His sleep became Habit training was begun at 14 months and at the same time disturbed. When in the Clinic a link was made between Paul's Paul became messy with his food. His mother's impulse was to upset and the separation, the mother said, "But I'm back with him interfere in order to prevent what she saw as a bad habit, but she now'', and was unprepared to see the separation from Paul's angles.. readily understood and accepted our explanation of this phase of Paul, now 2 years of age, is a delightful child. He is alert and development and thereafter allowed him to eat with his fingers. friendly, full of energy, often more mischievous and noisy than his Our help was decisive in avoiding mistakes, but without her freedom mother can patiently cope with. The baby, 8 months old when this from resistance and her capacity to empathise it would have been report was written, has a similar warm intense relationship to her much less effective. and the same good development that we saw in Paul. There were many occasions when she sought no more than This is a warm spontaneous mother, not without her own confirmation of her ways of handling special problems. For instant difficulties and aware that she sometimes falls short of being perfect. she decided for herself how best she could help Paul accept the new But because of her great capacity to identify with her children, to baby. Her plan was to withdraw from Paul to some extent before answer to their needs and not her own, her failings so far have not the baby was born. To this end she encouraged him to climb up hindered her children's development. and down stairs alone and to pick himself up after falls, knowing that after the new baby was born there would be times when she would be less available than Paul ever known. Conclusion In the weeks after the birth of baby, when Paul was 20 months old, she was acutely aware of his bewilderment that the baby was While the work with the second and third mother may on the drawing the interest of parents and grandparents away from him. whole satisfy the reader, the comparative failure with Martin's She controlled her open expression of affection for the baby (saving mother may arouse criticism. Many people who are active in mother- it for when they were alone) and allowed Paul to see only as much guidance work will maintain that we are too ready to accept the as she judged him able to tolerate. After a disturbed night during limits set by a mother's personality and that, instead of confining which Paul was able to-verbalise his jealousy, especially his awareness ourselves to understanding the situation and to preventing the worst of the grand-mothe'r love for the baby, she set about enlightening mistakes of handling, we should have set out actively to bring about the grandparents and insisting that they make amends to Paul. beneficial changes in the mother. This raises the question of what But although she encouraged his independence in many ways will influence rigid obsessional characters and whether anything less she was^well aware that there were occasions 'when he had special than a full analysis would have had a chance of success with Martin's need of her. So when he was to get an injection she arranged that mother. Even if she had wished for this, any change in her would Grandma should accompany the family, to take over the baby and have come too late to influence this particular child's development, leave the mother free to comfort Paul wholeheartedly in his time To justify our handling of the situation, we should also like to of need. put forward some further considerations which seem to us to govern This ability to see things through the eyes of her child broke work in a Well Baby Clinic. Mothers turn to a child Guidance down on one occasison and that was when, through no fault of her Clinic after they have met with failure in the upbringing of their own, she had failed him. After being in hospital for four days to child, and they do so often as much for their own sake as for the have two wisdom teeth removed she returned home with her face child's sake. Their own sense of frustration and bewilderment with bandaged. When she put out her arms to Paul he turned from her, regard, to the handling of the child's problems renders them com» 4 26 JOYCE ROBERTSON^ [ SAMIKSA paratively willing to accept interference with their personal life. But the picture is different with the young mothers who, very often with their first babies, come to a well Baby Clinic for guidance in the physical matters of upbringing. It takes some time to awaken A CASE OF PSYCHOSEXUAL IMPOTENCE. their understanding of the close connection between the physical N. N. CHATTERJI, and the emotional life of the infant, and then again to make them understand the close linkage between their own feelings and attitudes Mild sexual inhibition is often noticed in every type of neurosis and the child's flourishing, or failing to flourish, in both respects. along with other symptoms but complete impotence in male and Many of them need repeated evidence of the beneficial or frigidity in women may occur as a result of neurotic conflicts, In 1 harmful impact of their own attitudes or mood-swings on the infant simpliest cases as Freud has shown impotence is based on the before they are willing to believe the Clinic ; and even in the face persistence of unconscious sexual attachment on mother and the of the evidence, some remain unable to recognise harmful influences ego renounces the sexual pleasure as it is connected with the danger except where they are to be found in the child's constitution or in of castration. The unconscious feminine orientation is another 2 unfavourable circumstances in the environment. It is with these factor which prevents a man from using his sexual function. Steiner latter mothers that we feel we had better proceed slowly and has described a case in which impotence became a stubborn symptom carefully. If we demand from them what they can not provide, they because of the unconscious feminine identification of the patient. are apt to take themselves and their problems elsewhere where This, however, does not mean that the femininity inhibits masculinity. guidance will remain on a physical basis and their personalities will Really speaking the same factor which is responsible for the feminine remain safe from interference. On the other hand, if our approach defence inhibits the masculinity also. Feminine identification is a gradual one, based on the limitations of their personalities, we becomes a necessity in these types of cases in order to counteract do succeed in gaining cooperation from all except the most disturbed castration fear and its persistence saves a man from facing the or the most rigid. In some cases, where only tentative beginnings danger of sexual desire towards mother and the castration fear. of understanding had begun to show with the first child, we have Freud* has stated that some men are impotent towards one found to our pleasure that these had increased and led to beneficial woman or one type of women but not towards other types. Such men results by the time the mothers brought their second babies to us. separate sexuality from love and they become impotent towards women they love. He says that for the development of normal attitute in love it is necessary that the currents of affectionate feelings and sensual feelings should be united together and be fixed on the mother in the developmental stage. After arriving at puberty when sexual impulses become very strong most of the people detach themselves from mother and divert their affectionate and sexual feelings on other objects and those who can not do it properly develop psychic impotence. But the persons in whom sensual and affectionate feelings have not been united in the infancy after arriving at puberty their love remained fixed on the mother but their sensual desires were directed towards other women whom they do not love and if they love any woman she becomes a mother surrogate and consequently they can not bring sensual desire on that object. 28 N. N. CHATTERJI SAMIKSA Vol. 18 No. 1 ] A CASE OF PSYCHOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 29 It has been noticed that when objectionable preoedipal drives religious disposition, and passed her time in reading religious get associated with oedipus desire the sexual function gets inhibited books and attending meetings and discussions organised by her when attempts are made to ward off the precedipal drives. Precedipal religious preceptor and his disciples and for that reason he could not drives that are usually found to be associated with genital desires carry out her household duties properly. There was no conflict or are of oral and anal sadistic nature and they get inhibited due to disharmony among his parents but as they belonged to two different super ego's pressure but if they are not inhibited is worlds and there being no common ground from which they could produced as they heightened the sex impulse. In Don Juanism or work together and exert beneficial influence on the their children in nymphomania the exaggeration of sexual impulses is caused due the tie between the children and their parents were not very strong. to this factor. In this paper I want to discuss a case in which When the patient was 6 years old his mother became completely the sexual inhibition was caused mainly due to precedipal drives indiffernt to the family's affairs and spent most of her time in medita- which were united with cedipal desire and was opposed by the tion and prayer and she lost all contact with her youngest son. If super ego. any body pointed out to her that due to her neglect her son was The patient was a physician of 33 years of age. When he came suffering she would say that she had been completely freed of for analysis he was working as a medical officer of a passenger ship all earthly ties and did not like to get entangled in them any more. At which usually travelled from Calcutta to different countries of far that time his father was arrested for political reason and was detained east. He gave up his service and came back to Calcutta for treatment. in a detaintion camp for nearly 10 years in Rajasthan. For several His main complaints at that time were sexual inhibition and depression. years the . patient was in a helpless state and there was no body to He gave the history that he fell in love with a Japaneese girl who look after him except the old Khasi maid servant of the family who was a passenger in his ship and he attempted to perform sexuil tried to cover him with her love and affection. His eldest brother intercourse with her but was unsuccessful. As a reaction to this at that time was working in a mercantile firm is Bombay where his disappointment in sexual affair he developed depression. After sister's husband was also working. His second brother was a student reaching Hiroshima he consulted a psychiatrist over there who of intermediate class at that time and later on he got himself qualified administered 6 electric convulsive shocks and he became free from as a mechanical engineer. As his education was being hampered his depressive symptoms. The Japaneese psychiatrist advised him his eldest brother got him admitted in a residential school to get married as he believed that happy conjugal relation in his maintained by Ramkrishna mission. During his stay in the boarding case would be beneficial for his mental health. He also advised him school he progressed well in education and became extremely not to marry a girl who did not belong to his own social group as he religious minded. He became fond of reading religious books. He was afraid that it would create adjustment difficulties. Accordingly got so much proficiency in Sanskrit language that he started reading he came back to Calcutta and married a girl belonging to his own all religious books-in original Sanskrit. When he was 14 years of caste but he found that his sexual inhibition was persisting. age he did not get any heterosexual impulse and he would take pride Whenever he attempted to perform sexual intercourse with his in this fact and say that he was an asexual man and a born ascetic. wife he found his excitement to subside quickly but he would have But a great change was brought about in his character after he sufficient excitement if he attempted to masturbate. passed the school final examination and was staying in a hostel in The patient was the youngest son of his parents who had Calcutta for studying Intermediate science. His religious attitute two sons and one daughter. His father was a lawyer by profession had completely disappeared. So long he was a vegitarian but now he but as he became an active member of a revolutionary party became fond of taking meat and fish and got great pleasure in eating he could not concentrate his mind properly on his professional in hotels and resturants. His sexual passion was roused but it work. His mother on the other hand was a lady of extremely appeared in a perverted form as he got involved in homosexual [ SAMIKSA Val. 18 No. 1 ] A CASE OF PSYCHOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 31 30 N. N. CHATTERJI practices often. In homosexual situation he usually took active the idea that Ramkrishnadev would not perdon him for the heinous role. In spite of this perverted practice his heterosexuality was not crime he would perpetuate if he performed sex act with his wife. altogether absent. He often felt sexual attraction for some girls and When this phase of guilt feeling and was over he came to weaved phantasies around them and that was enough for achieving his wife but felt his sex desire to be completely inhibited. It was pleasure and in reality he did not approach any girl. Between 17 and in this state he came for psychoanalysis. 18 years af age his heterosexual impulse became very dominant and Psychoanalysis was started in the middle of January in 1956 and he gradually gave up homosexual practices as it no longer gave him his analysis was terminated at the end of December in 1960. He any pleasure. After passing the Intermediate science examination had altogether 887 sessions, He was completely cured of his sexual he got himself admitted into a medical college. When he was a inhibition. hospital student he started coming in contact with nurses he felt In the early part of his analysis he continually talked about attraction for them no doubt but avoided their, company believing his religious attitute when he stayed in the boarding school maintained that any sort of intimacy with them would be bad and if he got by Ramkrishna Mission. He had at that time very strong religious involved in any form of heterosexual activity God would never passion and. at one time he thought of becoming a mendicant. pardon him. Though he was greatly influenced by the writings of Swami Viveka- His tie with members of his family was not strong. For remain- nanda and sayings of Ramkrishnadev the religious passion he felt ing separated from his parents and other family members in his early within him was of Vaishnab faith and he knew that it was inspired childhood he felt no emotion for them and did not feel any inclina- . by her mother who was follower of Sri Gouranga and warshipped tion to meet them but on the contrary he always felt an urge to go Srikrishna. His father's family members were believer of the Sakti far away from home. It was because of this attitute he took a job cult and worshipped Goddess Durga and Kali but her mother came in the ship as it would enable him to go to distant places. The. from a devout Vaishnab family. His father was very fond of hunting feeling of being neglected by his parents was uppermost in his mind and was very efficient in fighting with sword and as a member of the and he always tried to avoid meeting them. When his father returned revolutionary party he did many heroic deeds but the patient was not home after his expiry of long imprisonment he did not go to meet influenced by him and on the contrary he developed a dislike for his him though his father was publicly honoured by many political parties father for his being engaged in all these activities. He did not like he also did not go to see his mother when she was once seriously ill. animal sacrifice and during the Durga puja days he felt uneasy and It was because of this attitute it appeared that he was happy could not participate in puja ceremony and invariably avoided attending after he joined the ship's service. In connection with the service the function when an animal would be sacrificed before the alter of he had to go to countries like Japan, Australia and Malaya and he the Goddess. He had a natural leaning towards vaishnabism and developed fascination for the city of Singapore. It was in Singapore found a great pleasure in surrendering himself completely to God he madly fell in love with a Japaneese girl whom he wanted to marry whenever he was in difficulty. Besides this religious attitute he always but again due to his failure to perform sex act with her he got an expressed the similar attitute of surrendering himself to persons who attack of depression. The Japaneese girl brought him to Hiroshima were in authority over him. When his father was arrested he was and got him treated by a psychiatrist over there. Hearing his history at first bewildered but the feeling of helplessness overwhelmed the psychiatrist advised him not to have any extramarital sexual him soon as he thought that there was no body to look after him. But relation with foreign girls but to marry a girl who belonged to his that feeling of helplessness disappeared when he was sent to the own culture. Accordingly the patient came to Calcutta and got boarding school and he developed faith in swami Vivekananda. married. Immediately after the marriage ceremony was over he felt During school days he was so much devoted to the swamiji who himself very much ashamed and could not go near his wife and got looked after the students of that hostel that he could die for him. 32 N. N. CHATTERJI I SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1 3 A CASE OF PSYCHOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 33 To the analyst also he developed the same passive attitude and came from a family whose members were devout vaishnab. His said that he had surrendered himself completely to him and now wife stayed with his parents who were at that time living in a suburb it was the analyst's duty to cure him. This attitude of passive of Calcutta but he engaged a room in a hotel in Calcutta and surrendering to men who were in authority showed the presence of started his medical practice. He was unhappy for his wife whom his passive homosexual desires in the unconscious and it was he thought he had frustrated but he was helpless as due to pangs of gradually revealed in his associations. When his associations were conscience she could not go near her. His wife adjusted herself interpreted and the presence of passive homosexual desires were gradually to this difficult situation and kept herself engaged in pointed out he readily accepted them. Now in his associations he domestic works and the religious activities in which her mother in started narrating a series of homosexual experiences during his law was interested. adolescent period in which he took passive role. He further said Patient came regularly for his analysis and continually talked about that after his marriage he had a series of dreams of homosexual his childhood days in the beginning. His mother was a vaishnab but nature in which he took both active and passive roles. He also his father was a believer in Sakti cult. He often visited Kali temple said that a poem of Govinda Das occurred in his mind continuously at Dashineswar but the patient for no reason developed a fear of for some days like an obsession immediately after his marriage but Goddess Kali and inspite of his having a great religious passion in his it was not painful. The following lines of the poem became ob- childhood he never visited any Kali temple. But still he prayed to sessive : "Tears rolled on my cheek when I saw the beauty of the Goddess Kali before his every examination. He would ask for her Lord and appreciating his virtues I became completely overwhelmed. blessing and say if she allowed him to pass the examination he would Every part of my being wanted to be united with corresponding sacrifice his sex desire to her alter. He now remembered that during part of the Lord." He said that this poem actually was responsible his adolescene he had often thought that if he satisfied his sex desire for his sudden inhibition of heterosexual desire after his marraige. N Goddess Kali would behead him. This fear of being beheaded He said that he had sufficient heterosexual desire before he got originated no doubt from his castration fear from the mother but his married and had created the phantasy of happy married life with his desire to sacrifice his sex showed his feeling of guilt; and after he wife. He had met his wife several times before his marriage and had a sexual dream in which he found himself performing sex act with had developed a liking for her. But immediately after the marriage a married lady he actually thought of injuring his penis with his pen he started thinking that he had done a shameful act and should hide knife. This dream of his adolescent days showed his oedipus desire, himself from his wife. The feeling of shame and guilt was expressed guilt feeling due to it and the need for expiation by injuring his continuously by him in connection with his heterosexual desire penis. in his free associations. He once said that it would be a crime x In this stage he dreamt thad he had performed sexual inter- against God if he satisfied his sexual desires with his wife. course with the wife of his eldest brother and he did not find anything It was quite evident that he had a strong punishing super ego which unusual in it. He woke up from his sleep and could not sleep any exerted an inhibitory influence on his ego and his heterosexual desire more. He got up and started pacing about in the room but suddenly was suppressed. Why his super ego should be so much aggressive in his mental eye he had a vision of his mother wearing saffron cloth and inhibit the sexual activity of the patient which was socially and a sword in her hand coming towards him as if to behead him. He approved was not clearly understood at this stage. then went back to his bed and covered his face with his palm and The inhibitory influence of the super ego was so strong that he started weeping. In his associations he said that his father wept not only refrained from sexual activities but had to remain away from when he had to bid farewell to his wife and children before his arrest. his wife. His wife came from a rural area and was not sufficiently The patient also wept for his father during his schooldays whenever educated and his mother selected her as his bride only because she he thought that he was in the detaintion camp for such a long period. 5 32 N. N. CHATTERJI [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1 ] A CASE OF PSYCHOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 33 To the analyst also he developed the same passive attitude and came from a family whose members were devout vaishnab. His said that he had surrendered himself completely to him and now wife stayed with his parents who were at that time living in a suburb it was the analyst's duty to cure him. This attitude of passive of Calcutta but he engaged a room in a hotel in Calcutta and surrendering to men who were in authority showed the presence of started his medical practice. He was unhappy for his wife whom his passive homosexual desires in the unconscious and it was he thought he had frustrated but he was helpless as due to pangs of gradually revealed in his associations. When his associations were conscience she could not go near her. His wife adjusted herself interpreted and the presence of passive homosexual desires were gradually to this difficult situation and kept herself engaged in pointed out he readily accepted them. Now in his associations he domestic works and the religious activities in which her mother in started narrating a series of homosexual experiences during his law was interested. adolescent period in which he took passive role. He further said Patient came regularly for his analysis and continually talked about that after his marriage he had a series of dreams of homosexual his childhood days in the beginning. His mother was a vaishnab but nature in which he took both active and passive roles. He also his father was a believer in Sakti cult. He often visited Kali temple said that a poem of Govinda Das occurred in his mind continuously at Dashineswar but the patient for no reason developed a fear of for some days like an obsession immediately after his marriage but Goddess Kali and inspite of his having a great religious passion in his it was not painful. The following lines of the poem became ob- childhood he never visited any Kali temple. But still he prayed to sessive : "Tears rolled on my cheek when I saw the beauty of the Goddess Kali before his every examination. He would ask for her Lord and appreciating his virtues I became completely overwhelmed. blessing and say if she allowed him to pass the examination he would Every part of my being wanted to be united with corresponding 1 sacrifice his sex desire to her alter. He now remembered that during part of the Lord. ' He said that this poem actually was responsible his adolescene he had often thought that if he satisfied his sex desire for his sudden inhibition of heterosexual desire after his marraige. ^ Goddess Kali would behead him. This fear of being beheaded He said that he had sufficient heterosexual desire before he^ got originated no doubt from his castration fear from the mother but his married and had created the phantasy of happy married life with his desire to sacrifice his sex showed his feeling of guilt; and after he wife. He had met his wife several times before his marriage and had a sexual dream in which he found himself performing sex act with had developed a liking for her. But immediately after the marriage a married lady he actually thought of injuring his penis with his pen he started thinking that he had done a shameful act and should hide knife. This dream of his adolescent days showed his oedipus desire, himself from his wife. The feeling of shame and guilt was expressed guilt feeling due to it and the need for expiation by injuring his continuously by him in connection with his heterosexual desire penis. in his free associations. He once said that it would be a crime v against God if he satisfied his sexual desires with his wife. In this stage he dreamt thad he had performed sexual inter- It was quite evident that he had a strong punishing super ego which course with the wife of his eldest brother and he did not find anything unusual in it. He woke up from his sleep and could not sleep any exerted an inhibitory influence on his ego and his heterosexual desire more. He got up and started pacing about in the room but suddenly was suppressed. Why his super ego should be. so much aggressive in his mental eye he had a vision of his mother wearing saffron cloth and inhibit the sexual activity of the patient which was socially and a sword in her hand coming towards him as if to behead him. He approved was not clearly understood at this stage. then went back to his bed and covered his face with his palm and The inhibitory influence of the super ego was so strong that he started weeping. In his associations he said that his father wept not only refrained from sexual activities but had to remain away from when he had to bid farewell to his wife and children before his arrest. his wife. His wife came from a rural area and was not sufficiently The patient also wept for his father during his schooldays whenever educated and his mother selected her as his bride only because she he thought that he was in the detaintion camp for such a long period, 5 Vol. 18, No. 1 ] A CASE OF PoYCHOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 35 34 N. N. CHATTERJI [ SAMIKSA phantasies ; once he. thought that he was getting transformed into a The patient used to identify himself with his father and his arrest woman and he would be pregnant like a woman. These ideas fright- and long imprisonment stood for his own punishment for the offensive ened him very much. He also started getting aggressive phantasies sexual desire towards his mother image. Though his father was in which he wanted to humiliate all men of position. One day he never repentant for his political activities and the suffering he felt the impulse of attacking the managing director of his firm with underwent for the country's cause did not affect him at all yet his umbrella and that frightened him so much that he resigned his in his associations the patient mentioned his father's imprisonment post and came back to Calcutta again. to express his guilt feeling and the need for punishment in connction In his associations now hatred and aggression became very with the oedipus desires. : prominent. He would express oedipus desire and castration threat In his associations now unconscious phantasies appeared in the from a father image but instead of adopting feminine desire as a following sequence ; cedipus desire, castration fear from both father defence he would now express the aggressive, desire of castrating and mother and flight to homosexuality. His associations of one the father image. With the appearence of aggressive phantasies in his session runs as follows : "since my college days I feel attraction associations depressive symptoms and guilt feelings in connection for ladies who were senior to me in age. I distinctly remember heterosexual desires disappeared. ,He would express oppenly his desire when the mother of a fellow student came to see her son I was very of performing sex act with his wife and other women who were mother much attracted towards her. The mark of vermilion on her forehead surrogates and he often expressed sadistic ideas along with it. and the necklace she was wearing roused in me a peculiar sense With the appearence of aggressive phantasies the patient of attraction but immediately an inner voice forbade me to go near became restless and hyperactive and for sometimes it appeared as if her. I felt very much ashamed yet at the time of masturbation he was developing hypomania. As his guilt feeling was absent I used to conjure up her picture in order to rouse my sexual passion. during this period and his sex urge returned he decided to meet his I hear inner voices still now which tell me to give up sex wife and instead of living in a hotel in the city like before he now desires towards women and to become a woman myself. I wanted stayed with his parents in their suburban homs. His appetite was to channelise my sex impulse towards religious path and worship increased and he developed much interest in food. He said that God as a woman as many devout Vaishnabs do. My wife appears to me while he was at Patna he consulted a doctor who advised him to as a Goddess, her fair complexion and the mark of vermilion in the take a course of injections of testicular hormone and he took it parting of the hairs reminds me of my friend's mother and my own but had no effect on him. After coming to Calcutta his depression mother also who was in the habit of putting vermillion very thickly on disappeared automatically and he felt better. In his associations her forehead and the parting of her hairs. That is why I have to stay now he expressed strong aggression towards all men and women. away from my wife"/ In one days's associations he said that he felt tremendous aggression As his guilt feeling in connection with the heterosexual desire towrads his mother as he was neglected by her in his childhood. was very strong he became sceptic about his recovery and thought She never served him food with her own hand but depended on the that he was doomed to remain impotent rest of his life. He lost servants. The Khashi maid servant was the only person in his life faith in analytical treatment also. As he was not doing well in his who gave him motherly affection. It was because of this fact he felt practice he at last decided to take up the job of a medical represen- attraction for women of mongolian race as they resembled the maid tative of a druggist firm and left Calcutta. One month he stayed at servant in physical features. He said that he constantly felt an Patna in connection with his job but could not stay there longer as impulse to bite and it was directed no doubt towards his mother who he started getting depressed. After returning from Patna he resumed deprived him orally in his early childhood. The desire to eat her up his analysis once more. He said that he realised that analysis was bit by bit and to devour her completely ultimately like a cannibal really helping him, While he was at Patna he started getting peculiar 36 N. N. CHATTERJI [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1 ] A CASE OF PSYCHOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 37 occurred in his mind but whenever he got this idea he also got and introduce his excreta inside his body and believed that would kill digestive troubles in the form of burning sensation in the stomach him at once. and wind in his abdomen which would always rise up towards his While he was expressing these types of aggressive phantasies his head instead of going down and causing him tremendous physical sex impulse again became inhibited and his hyperactivity subsided. discomfort and mental agony. His appetite became poor and he started getting pain in his abdomen Now he was living with his wife and he was having sufficient and his movement of the bowels also got affected. He also started sexual excitement but what troubled him most was his premature getting fear of falling down whenever he went to the seeond floor ejaculation. At times sexual excitement would suddenly subside of his house. In this time he had a dream that he had gone to Digha just before his attempt at penetration without any ejaculation. He sea shore accompanied by a friend and they were walking along the said in his associations during this period that his impulse to bite beach. He suddenly found that his friend had gone under the had been transferred to his penis and if he indulged in sexual acti- earth as there was a hollow underneath the sands in that place. He vities with his wife she would bleed to death. His penis was like a pulled him out of the earth with great difficulty. sword and its sharp pointed end would cause serious injury to his In his associations to this dream he said that his friend's going wife's body. He wanted to cause serious injury to his father also by under the earth reminded him of his fear of being buried alive which thrusting his penis in his anus as anger against him was equally strong. was very dominant in his childhood when he was in the school but He repeatedly said that his penis became an aggressive instru- it disappeared gradually. When he was in the ship's service the fear ment as he was deprived orally by his parents and the penetration of being drowned occasionally troubled him but it was not very of his penis inside the body of his wife meant introducing his whole strong. These fears had its origin in his regressive defence in the face body inside of the wife who was a mother surrogate and take away of his oedipus conflict and they represent the desire to go into the all the nutrient elements present inside her body. But as this mother's womb and rebirth. We got corroboration of it from his aggressive intention was opposed by his moral sense his excitement associations. One day's associations run as follows : "I am burning subsided before penetration took place. His anal and urethral with anger as I was deprived in mother's love, she did not give me aggressions were also transferred to his penis. enough food I was always hungry. I shall discharge all my anger In one days associations he said that he had taken food from his on her through my penis, I shall flood her body with faeces and parents in an aggressive manner as they were determined to deprive urine but an inner voice threatens immediately to punish me and him orally. In his childhood his father did not like that he should my anger vanishes and I run away from the situation by dropping a take sweets where as his mother would not allow him to take meat and. drop-scene before me. I can not forget my sense of deprivation and fish and due to want of nutritive food his body could not develop like a spitfire I would spout fire through my penis which would burn properly. Though he thought of taking enormous quantity of food my wife to death. I will kill her thursting my sword in her vagina and some times believed that actually he had eaten much but and cut her into pieces. But this is recoiling on me and I do not immediately he would have the idea that his abdomen was full of get any sexual excitement and my penis is getting smaller in size. wind which was going upward and destroying his internal organs. Mr inner voice tells me not to do sex with her as doing sex would be This feeling would make him so much enraged that immediately he killing her. The voice tells me not to do sex but to turn away my car would get the idea of attacking his parents with his faeces and urine. in the arena of oral needs towards mother. Due to the pressure of He would get phantasy of introducing his excreta inside the vagina of the inner voice I can not utter the word 'sex'. Even I cannot satisfy the mother image and flood it with urine or fill it with faeces and my oral needs, I have lost my appetite, I get burning sensation in as his excreta were like corrosive acids she would die in no time. the stomach and wind moves upward from my stomach causing Similarly he got the idea of performing sodomy on his father image palpitaion of heart and pain in the head, In order to get rid of all [ SAMIKSA 38 N. N. CHATTERJI Vol. 18, No. 1 ] A CASE OF PSYC HOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 39

these troubles I shall fall asleep expecting that when I would get up He gradually realised that behind his fear of pregnancy of the in the morning I shall be alright !' wife there was guilt feeling connected with his oral biting aggression From his assciations it is quite evident that due to super ego's towards the mother image and now there was a tendency to counteract pressure his impulse to carry out his sadistic sexual desire was- inhibi- this aggression by adopting the defence of reaction formation.; he ted and at first there was regression towards oral phase and it manifested exaggerated love for his wife as through love -he heightened his oral needs but due to his having fixation in the socond attempted to counteract aggression. This mechanism was also res- oral phase biting aggression was manifested. Again due to projection ponsible for his developing transient obsessional symptoms in the of biting aggression on the food taken from his parents food became shape of a compulsion to remember a synonym or an antonym of a dangerous and when it was ingested it gave him trouble from his inside. word and he had to utter the same word three or four times. He In order to get rid of these difficulties his ego adopted the had an obsessional character traits which were noticed in his- adole- regressive defence of going into the mother's womb. His desire to scent days and they compelled him to follow all the rules of the fall asleep meant interuterine regression. It is this desire of going residential school and the religious rituals very stirictly on those into the mother womb which was reflected in his dream in which days. His faith in Vaishnabism and the desire to conquor aggressions the patient's friend "was buried in the sea shore of the Digha. of others by showing them love had their origin in this mechanism At this time the patient developed a painful symptom in the of reaction formation. shape of an anxiety thought that his wife might become pregnant if When faced with castration fear in connection with oedipus he performed sex act with her as he feared that she would die desire he readily adopted femininity and showed love towards the father if she became pregnant. For this anxiety he started avoiding his image. If this mechanism was successful then he could have over- wife. He now got the idea that if he touched her she might become come his castration fear and he would not have developed inhibition of pregnant ; being a medical man he knew how absurd this thought sex. But unfortunately along with his feminine desire his oral needs was but still he could not overcome its effect. At times he thought towards the father became associated. This oral need towards father she had become actually pregnant and he suffered from pangs of was created as there was a strong sense of frustration from the mother conscience. From the study of his associations again the phantasies in oral situation and the patient wanted to satisfy it from the father behind this symptom was detected. He started saying that if she but there also the sense of frustration was repeated. So when the became pregnant she would bleed to death and the cause of the patient adopted the feminine defence against the castration fear the bleeding was also found out from his phantasies. He often said in sense of oral frustration roused frustration in feminine situation also his associations that he could not introduce his penis inside the vagina and the patient could not accept the passive homosexual situation of his wife as he feared that there would be severe haemorrhage the any longer and he manifested active homosexual attitute by which penis being sharp edged like a knife but now he started saying that he could satisfy his biting and excretory aggression on father. From his his penis like a child would go inside the womb of his wife and take associations it was gathered that in active homosexual situation he away all the nutrition from the inside and that would cause serious wanted to make the father surrogate a female by castrating him and bleeding. Because there was strong super ego's pressure against this then he wanted to perform sodomy on him. By this act he wanted type of oral sadistic desire he developed anxiety at the possibility of to satisfy his biting aggression through his penis and to discharge his this desire being carried out and took regressive defence against this dangerous excreta ,and kill him. This biting and excretory aggre- wish by developing the phantasy of going into the mother's womb. It ( ssions were created as a reaction to oral frustration and they being appeared in the form of an uncontrollable tendency to fall asleep connected with femininity created this complication and the patient whenever he met his wife and for that reason he could not carry out could not give up his active homosexual attitute till his oral frustra- any conversation with her even. tion was dissolved. 40 N. N. CHATTERJI [ SAMIKSA Vol. 18, No. 1 ] A CASE PSYCHOSEXUAL INPOTENCE 41 From the study of his associations it was evident that besides patient's sexual function became free from inhibition but when it castration fear and super ego's pressure which inhibited his genital failed inhibition came back again. desires towards his mother image, his preoedipal attachment and It was only through repeated working out his preoedipal aggressions towards her were hindrence to the expression of the aggressive drives lost their forces and they no longer appeared in heterosexual desire. He could not adopt passive homosexual attitude connection with oedipus desire. In his associations now oedipus towards his father image either. It took more than 300 sessions of desire, castration fear and flight to homosexuality were noticed. analytical treatment for the working out of his preoedipal attachment With his feminine desires also aggressive drives were no longer towards his mother and father. Once more the oedipus desire and associated and there being no frustration in feminine situation the castration fear appeared in his associations and now he could take up patient could take up passive feminine position without any sense passive homosexual attitute towards his father image but still oral and of apprehension. It was now revealed that his castration fear was anal anger towards his parents characterestic of preoedipal fixation also very strong and in order to combat it there was a strong need to occasionally appeared and passive feminine attitute was immediately adopt femininity. By working out his castration fear became lessened in course of time and his sexual potency returned. given up. Patient's sexual excitement came back and penetration became possible but sometimes it became interrupted due to the symptom of premature ejaculation. One factor that was responsible References for his premature ejaculation was the super ego's opposition to 1. Freud, S—Three contributions to the theory of sex. attack the inside of the mother image with excreta such as urine and 2. Steiner, M—Die Bedeutung der femininen identifizierung fuer die faeces and semen being symbol of these substances ejaculation before maennliche impotenz.—Internationale zeitschrift fuer penetration saved the mother image from its attack. Another factor psychoanalye. responsible for this symptom was also revealed. It was again 3. Freud, S—Contribution to Psychology of love—Collected. Papers connected with his urethral eroticism. He had not only sadistic Vol. IV. urethral erotic desire of passing urine into the genital of the mother image but a passive urethral desire also which could be satisfied when a mother image would touch his genital organ and make him pass urine. It was due to the need of satisfaction of this unconscious desire he got ejaculation immediately after his penetra- tion of sex organ or at times even after mere touch of the sex organ with the female genitalia. In this stage it was possible for the patient to be successful in his sexual activities occasionally though there were many failures. The aggressive drives towards the mother image and the dafence of reaction formation to counteract it did not work well. The impulse of biting and excretory aggression on the mother which was transferred on his penis appeared again and again in his associations in the form of killing the mother image by thrusting his penis inside her body and there was opposition of supergo towards it. Whenever the defence of reaction formation against these aggression was successful the ANNOUNCEMENT FORM IV (See Rule 8) 24th International Psychoanalytic Congress 1. Place of Publication Indian Psychoanalytical Society, The 24th Congress of the International Psycho-Analitical 14, Parsibagan Lane, Calcutta-9 Association will be held in Amsterdam, July 25—30, 1965 (inclusive), under the auspices of the Duch Psycho-Analytical Society. The 2. Periodicity of its publication..... Quarterly emphasis wil be on clinical psychoanalysis with a focus particularly 3. Printer's Name Tarit Kumar Chatterjee on technical problems in the psychoanalysis of the obsessional neurosis. Prepublished material will very likely consist of modern Nationality Indian clinical case material which can be compared as to psychodynamics Address 113, Amherst Street, Calcutta-9 and technique with Freud's case, the "Rat Man." Papers submitted may deal with either theoretical or clinical subjects. 4. Publisher's Name Tarit Kumar Chatterjee A statement of intent to submit a paper, together with three Nationality Indian copies of an abstract of approximately 200 words (preferably in English) should be sent to the Chairman of the Programme Address 112, Amherst Street, Calcutta-9 Committee (Robert P. Knight, M. D., Austen Riggs Centre, Inc. Editor's Name Dr. T. C. Sinha, D. Sc. Stockbridge, Massachusetts) by 15th September' 1964. Three copies of the final paper, in the language of rhe author's choice, Nationality Indian should be submitted to the Chairman not later than 12th November Address 37, Southend Park, Calcutta-29 1964. The Committe will select papers to be presented. The reading time allotted to each paper will be thirty minutes and fifteen 6. Names and addresses of individuals who own minutes will be reserved for discussion. the newspaper and partners or shareholders holding more than one per cent of the total capital.

I, Tarit Kumar Chatterjee, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date 23-1-64 Signature of Publisher Tarit Kumar Chatterjee