the virtues, was infinitely patient and loving with his little daughter. She told me that from her earliest times she considered him, physically speaking, "an enormously beautiful man," and in describing him she lingered lovingly over the details of his appearance—his "sculptured head," "wonderful deep kindly eyes," "marvelously athletic figure." A psychiatrist, of course, would pay very close attention to such an ecstatic description, coming as it did from such an otherwise withdrawn person.
By way of contrast she had considered her mother "mousy" and, while she had liked her in a general sense, she had never consciously had any very strong positive feelings about her.
Patricia clearly had been a "daddy's girl." There is nothing wrong, of course, with this under normal circumstances; had she grown up to be sexually free and had she been able to transfer her early love feelings from her father to other men, this early attachment to the father would have been merely a phase in normal development.
It is not necessary here to depict the stages by which Patricia and I arrived at a clear understanding of the early problem that had caused her later frigidity. It will be enough to state the events themselves.
You will recall the fact that in the first five years of life the child is a very sensual little being. Patricia had been no exception in the beginning; she had transferred these feelings, in the normal course of events, to her father. However, this powerful and charming man whose personality dominated the household, overshadowing his wife completely, had been far too responsive (unwittingly, of course) to the little girl's erotic feelings. He dandled her and played with her endlessly, surrounded her with a stimulating warmth, psychologically and physically; he showered kisses and hugs,
