ABSTRACT
As Attis stopped “playing” with bitches, I observed his involvement in three new areas. First, his relationship with men, especially when in social settings outside his church, began to change. In the past, he had been guarded with them. For example, at times while playing golf he would wonder if the other men thought of him as a “sissy”. Now he felt equal to the other players, and sports competition no longer evoked “I am less than a man” fantasies and anxiety or the psychosomatic symptoms, such as the diarrhoea or stomach-ache, that they once entailed. In fact, Attis began to enjoy men’s company. Second, he began to indulge in lively flirtations with various women and even thought of having affairs with them. The third area reflected an intrapsychic change: he could now maintain an integrated self-representation of himself and others. I noticed that he could tolerate ambivalence without returning to utilisation of defensive splitting. I realised that he had gone through crucial juncture experiences.
