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Ms. A, a musician in her thirties, thin, waiflike, yet stylish, presented for analysis after the breakup of a several year sexual relationship.
The relationship had been a close one for only the first few months, following which her lover, B, had withdrawn, saying it was “too close.” During the following year, the pair continued an ill-defined involvement, but when B “panicked” and withdrew again after they resumed having more regular sexual relations, Ms. A broke off from him. Some time later, they began a relationship again which never went beyond intense monthly sexual encounters. A few months prior to starting treatment, Ms. A learned that B was living with another woman and, enraged, broke off the affair. She sought analysis hoping to understand how she had allowed herself to get so little from a relationship which had “obsessed” her for these years. She also felt that while her own music-related business was modestly successful, that she had been inhibited from turning it into a more satisfying and remunerative endeavor. Ms. A mentioned having been rather depressed after the breakup with B, but minimized any current symptoms of depression.
Ms. A described a difficult family, in which her parents fought continually until their divorce when she was 7. She was one of three