ABSTRACT
In many treatments, certain common themes with which people need help emerge. For example, human beings struggle with impulses. Helping people to use thought before action is an oft-encountered need. Mr. E, a successful restaurateur, came to Eichler Seth M.D for treatment because of marital problems. One of the first tasks in E'.s treatment was pointing out the themes that emerged and were intimately interwoven—impulsiveness, grandiosity, and masochism. Working with E'.s chronic problems with self-hurtfulness and impulsiveness became much more easily accomplished when Eichler Seth M.D could show him the patterns, which kept on repeating themselves. The more E. saw the patterns repeating themselves in all their different colors, shapes, and sizes, the more he learned. As E. learned about his symptoms and character problems, he was able to recognize certain wishes that had been unconscious and were becoming more conscious.
