ABSTRACT
After returning from Philadelphia, Attis behaved as if he were born again. But an external event would make him anxious that his newborn “self” would be treated like the original one who had been under the shadow of his early mother. In the waiting room before one of his sessions, he overheard several office personnel speaking about my having a new baby girl. I was married during my first year of psychiatric residency in Chapel Hill and what Attis overheard was true. I had never mentioned to him that I was married and he had not known of my wife’s pregnancy. Without meaning to do so, the office personnel had provided him with a readymade suitable event to trigger memories of his earlier life history. Instead of becoming fragmented and involved in exaggerated defensive internalisation–externalisation cycles, Attis’ examination of his early life experiences this time looked like an examination of similar issues by a person with higher-level personality organisation.
