Case XI. ‘Hesta’ aet 16 Years

This case provides another example of a communication of the kind that belongs specifically to the professional interview. The work that the girl and I did together did not lead to a clearing up of her symptomatology. What did happen was that the parents and the family doctor, who was actively in charge of her case, felt that following the consultation they were now at last in a position to do what they felt they needed to do. They had been hampered previously by the girl's inability to accept the fact that she was ill. After the consultation she seemed to want, as well as to need, help. She abandoned her unstable assertion of her own capacity to manage and became rather childlike; perhaps it could be said that although she was 16 she became like an 8-year-old. The parents were able to find a girl to act as mental nurse for her, someone who was not trained in mental nursing but who had a natural understanding and tolerance, and this plan worked well because Hesta had now become able to let herself be an ill person. She continued, however, to insist that her various doctors were friends.

I have now had further interviews with this girl and I find that she continues to use me in a special way as someone available on demand. In the meantime she is heavily dependent on her parents and on the G.P. The future of this case is not yet clear, but a significant change in the total situation was brought about by the therapeutic consultation which I propose to describe.

Hesta is the third of four children in an intact family. I now present the case in detail, and I wish to carry you with me through the therapeutic consultation. All I knew about this case was derived from a letter from her family doctor. The main trouble was that Hesta, now 16 years old, had been nervous since her first menstrual flow, which happened when she was 14. At this time the relationship between the parents was in a state of crisis, and this crisis in the home has since been resolved.

At the age of 15 Hest