Executives are prone to overwork, to need to achieve and to need to compete. The dynamics responsible for this pattern were also the dynamics of the breakdown in 16 executives with neurosis. Overcompensation for inferiority feelings, often originating in low socioeconomic childhood background, and ambivalence to the father with repression of hostility were prominent, the main ego mechanisms of defence being repression and denial. The patients often attempted to turn psychotherapy into discussions and had difficulty in accepting a non-directive approach.