ABSTRACT
Pailthorpe reports the case of a young man whose character disturbances and symptoms were “cured” through an analysis of the traumatic events immediately preceding and during birth as well as in the first period of infancy. For example, the patient suffered from an inability to expend his full strength in physical or mental work or in any circumstance where he sensed aggression. This is explained as a direct consequence of experiences during birth where is assumed that the ideas of “punishment”, “attack”. “exhaustion”, etc., had to some degree the same conceptual and psychological significance for the infant (and foetus) that they have for the child and adult.
