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This is an interesting case and an interesting presentation: the patient is a performing artist of considerable talent, she comes from another country and culture, she is a DES baby, and finally her analysis was short, three years, during which she made major changes in her life. In her presentation Dr. Welner includes many dreams and is conscientious in reporting her interventions and the patient's responses. There are three dreams, at the beginning, middle, and end of the analysis that have the same or a similar image—scaffolding. Finally Dr. Welner asks us to focus on the influence of the supervisor on the analysis.
I shall not deal with all of these interesting aspects and I apologize to Dr. Welner for not responding directly to her request. I had difficulty understanding and discussing this case. I obtained a clearer idea of the chronology in consultation with Dr. Welner; I also utilized information from the intake interview by Dr. Balkoura.
The patient is a 28-year-old Austrian violinist. Dr. Welner delineates the main problems as her inability to make progress in her career and a destructive marital relationship. She considers her patient's core conflict as an intensely ambivalent relationship with her mother—with the latter I agree.
In the context of the first months in which the patient moves alternately closer to the analyst and then farther away, the first of the three scaffolding dreams occurs. There are no direct associations to the dream nor any day residue, but here is what I understand from the manifest content. She was climbing across scaffolding high above a stage and afraid of falling. This indicates an early period of life when postural independence had not yet been achieved, that is, when she was unsure of her ability to stand and walk. Young louts in a car down below on a stage are looking up her shirt and laughing. This is