ABSTRACT
Mr Jones sought treatment for what he experienced as his “ambivalence”. He did not know who he was and was deeply unhappy that he could not have any meaningful relationships. At the beginning of his therapy Mr Jones declared that he was gay, but he consistently tried to find out whether he could be heterosexual. Mr Jones’ anxiety about his father’s hostility and passivity and his mother’s seductive acquisitiveness made it impossible for him to find a safe object – either man or woman – to relate to sexually. Instead, his identifications with his oedipal couple led to alienation. He could not satisfactorily express his sexuality or engage in a relationship of his choice, whether homosexual or heterosexual. He retreated into masturbatory activities, taking his own body as his sexual object.
