Clinical Case Presentation: The Social Construction of an Analytic Space

It is an extremely challenging task to consider an analysis of three years in a few pages. What stands out for me is conducting a successful analysis with someone who deeply wanted to have one but almost as deeply could not bring himself to have one. The history I relate here is the product of much of the analytic work Mr L and I did together. The full extent of the madness in the patient's family was not revealed, nor fully realized by the patient at the time he first came to see me. After discussing the history I'll focus on a few key and/or illustrative periods of the treatment. Mr L was a 41-year-old single, gay man employed as a public sector middle manager when he came to see me for psychoanalysis. He was a tall, athletic-looking, handsome man who appeared his age. He dressed casually and was very neatly groomed. Mr L spoke with a colourful Southern accent and often contrasted this with what he referred to as ‘y'all's Yankee accent’. He brought to almost every session a leather gym bag that doubled as his brief case, laying the bag next to the couch and keeping one hand on the strap throughout the session. Typically the New York Times would protrude from the side pocket and Mr L would often reference articles dealing with gay issues,