ABSTRACT
Traditionally, obsessive-compulsive mechanisms can be traced to early childhood. To paraphrase Klein (1975), if the mother is too strict about cleanliness, especially during toilet training years, the child develops destructive fantasies about his/her own body parts. To assuage this anxiety, the child learns to control his/her sphincter muscles and nds a way to release his/ her feces in a systematic, organized fashion so as not to “dirty,” destroy, or harm his external objects. To guard against this, the child learns to control others, while at the same time being careful not to “mess up.” Freud refers to this process as “undoing,” a way of making reparation in order to eradicate the dirt or badness. In society, these obsessive-compulsive borderlines are actually high-functioning and often extremely accomplished and successful people, including doctors, lawyers, and scientists.
