Citation

Masi F. Int. J. Psychoanal. 2007; 88(1): 147-165.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Institute of Psychoanalysis, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1516/B5AJ-CG0B-E4HC-WB07

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The main feature of the treatment of the paedophile is the distance that separates the analyst from the patient. However hard the analyst tries to understand his patient, the paedophile's world appears to him, especially at the beginning of the treatment, incomprehensible, disheartening and distant. This paper describes the analytic therapy of a paedophile patient. The psychopathological organization that dominates his inner world originates from a delusional nucleus in which an object (a child or an adolescent) is idealized and worshipped in place of the parents. This object promises all manner of pleasure and happiness. The positive outcome of this patient leads one to believe that, if analytically treated, some paedophile patients are open to therapeutic transformation.