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In this paper I have presented case material from the early stages of the long-term psychotherapeutic hospital treatment of a severely ill, chronic schizophrenic young woman, who entered a profoundly regressed assaultive state necessitating her being placed in a cold wet sheet pack for her therapy hours. The case material attempts to demonstrate how the ambiguous
process of the primitive transference-counter-transference relatedness can be elucidated by the concepts of 'transitional relatedness' derived from Winnicott, and 'containment' derived from Bion. The discussion focuses on three topics: (a) the relationship between 'transitional relatedness' and 'containment', (b) the relationship between beginning object constancy and self-control, and (c) the importance of concrete expressions of care-taking in the 'holding environment' of the schizophrenic patient.