We are presented with an account of Natalie's first meetings with the clinician. There is no apparent distinction between an assessment process and the beginnings of a therapeutic contract, and we do not know why there are three sessions. This has implications for technique, e.g. the level of exploration and interpretation, the pacing of interventions, the tacit assumption of continuity of the process by the same clinician.

The account does not tell us many significant details such as family composition, ages of siblings, reasons for referral, duration of Natalie's problems. This way there is much freedom with which the clinician can observe the way the patient presents,