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I would like to begin by expressing my admiration for and gratitude to therapists who offer a session for comment and my hope that the commentaries here are received as supportive and helpful. Seeing comments in print can be so much harder than discussing one's thoughts and feelings in a live supervision session.
This is an account of work with a man now in his 50s who has been in in therapy for over 10 years, increasing from one to two sessions per week in the second year. He initially presented as severely depressed with suicidal feelings and, as the therapist informs us, he found gaps between sessions hard and would often miss or arrive late for one of his sessions. We are told that he used to spend days ‘prone’ on his sofa. Is lying face down a way of attempting to shut everything out? From the brief history we have we know that his mother died from cancer when he was 25 but we're given the impression that she was never really there for him; rather that she left him at the mercy of his aggressive and undermining father who made him feel stupid. He fell in love and briefly lived abroad with an American girlfriend whom he wanted to marry but allowed his parents' disapproval to prevent him from doing so. It may be that his wish to gain approval from his parents has controlled much of his life. We have little information about other relationships, but it is clear from the session material provided that B is now actively seeking a relationship with a woman.
The therapist notes that B presents as startlingly inarticulate in spite of his degree in languages. He currently works freelance in publishing yet, for as long as the therapist has known him, has not filled in a tax return. I'm not sure what significance is made of this except perhaps one could wonder if it connects with his desire to hide away from a projected attacking father figure. I believe we see evidence of his per-secutory internalized father throughout the session.
In contrast the internalized mother isn't