The pressure of this repressed material impels her to go through an elaborate ritual each night before she can get to sleep. First she arranges the several vases in her room so that she feels they are well protected against being broken (thereby guarding against sexual intercourse). Then she makes sure that the bolster does not come into contact with the headboard (in this way she gains the substitute satisfaction of keeping her mother and father apart).
As her analysis proceeds, and the analyst is able—and here, timing is important—to encourage her to become conscious of her repressed feelings and generalized dread of sex, her need for the nightly ritual is gradually eliminated.
It is not difficult to think of other problems, sometimes of a handicapping kind, that, because of their obsessive or compulsive nature, interfere with normal living. Compulsive handwashing is a classical example; compulsive overeating, bulimia, and its opposite, anorexia nervosa, as well as nymphomania, a need for sexual promiscuity, are a few others.
AN EXAMPLE OF BRIEF PSYCHOANALYSIS
Dr. Richard Chase is a psychiatrist who specializes in emotional problems of children. John and Rachel Edmonton have come to see him about their twelve-year-old son, Bobby, their only child. John is an evangelical minister in his early forties who travels a great deal, taking his family with him.
When Bobby was eight years old, he began to have strange and violent nightmares. He would go to sleep and then apparently awaken about an hour later, asking for a drink of water or expressing a need to go to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Bobby would seem to lose his balance and stumble over furniture, sometimes running into walls, crying aloud that he was "turning inside out" and was dying. Often his parents would have to restrain him to keep him from hurting himself. After a few minutes, the nightmare would end and Bobby would come out of it, a terrified, confused little boy in tears.
So far, John and Rachel, with their frequent moves, had not been able to get professional help that had made a difference. Bobby had been examined by a neurologist, and an electroencephalograph test was done to determine if some kind of epileptic disorder might be involved. The test was negative. They had also taken Bobby to a child psychologist, who said that Bobby was bright, sensitive, and precocious, that this kind of nightmare was called a night terror (pavor nocturnis), and that the problem would eventually subside.
Four years passed, and the night terrors did not. The family of three was becoming battle-scarred. Bobby hated to go to bed at night, fearing the inevitable. His parents, sometimes patient, sometimes not, used whatever ways they could, even a prescribed sedative for Bobby, so he could relax and get to sleep, to no avail.
Could Dr. Chase help?
Dr. Chase decided to meet with Bobby by himself. He found that Bobby was very willing to talk about his "bad dreams." Dr. Chase asked him to describe what happened each night.