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In this paper I would like to discuss my experience of working with a severely disturbed girl. I hope to show, through clinical material, the nature and intensity of the transference relationship. I also hope to demonstrate the effects of early emotional deprivation as shown through her sense of abandonment and the influence that the trauma of sexual abuse had on the development of her sexuality.
The information that I have of Mary's background and family history is very sketchy, limited to the main events in her life as recorded by Social Services. How she experienced them and the secret she kept were later revealed in therapy.
She was born to a very young mother who soon abandoned her child to be looked after by her grandmother. At the age of 3 Mary was received into care due to physical neglect and placed in a residential nursery. A year later she was fostered and was said to be happy and settled until she was nine years old. At that time she started to become physically and verbally aggressive at home and at school and started to steal. Her foster parents said that they could not manage her any longer. She was moved and placed in a children's home. Further attempts to foster her failed as she herself always rejected the prospective foster parents. She was seen by the adults who cared for her as a very complex girl, very loyal to those she felt deserved her loyalty but totally scathing of those who did not meet her high standards. She liked her school and was very attached to one of her teachers who was very supportive towards her. She refused any contact with her family and expressed hatred towards her mother who embarrassed her and whom she thought of as a prostitute and a drunk.
Her Social Worker referred her for psychotherapy to NAFSYAT (The Intercultural Therapy Centre) when she was 16 years old. Her Social Worker's main anxiety was about Mary's preoccupation with suicidal thoughts and her depression. She was also