[A car accident. Parallel development of posttraumatic psychiatric pathology in a mother and child]

A case of parallel development of a post-traumatic pathological condition in a mother and child is reported. Psychotherapy of the mother's anxiety neurosis allows to understand the child's symptoms as dependent upon maternal phantasies and to underscore the iatrogenic effects of the alleged treatment. The course, over seven years, draws attention to the significance of mother-child relationships as a source of diagnostic error and as a cause of the importance of certain side-effects of barbiturates.