Pruritus ani

Although the importance of the anal zone is well known in psychoanalysis, pruritus ani has not been studied recently in the psychoanalytic literature. This paper is presented to show how bisexuality in a male patient has been analysed through pruritus ani as the main presenting symptom. After giving the case history of Fernand, pruritus ani is analysed from three main points of view: phallic, anal and oral. This is done to illustrate the connexions of the psychopathological material at the three stages and their expression through one symptom of the 'instincts and their vicissitudes'. Finally, the importance of the anal stage and its symptomatology as an attempt to diminish the affective charge brought up in the individual by the oral and phallic conflicts is discussed briefly.