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There is ‘nothing else’. Four times, in this one session, these two words ring aloud. Harry clings to his insistence. What could (not) be on his mind? What ‘else’ could it be? What is there that is besides or otherwise? We can only wonder, but as we do so, we begin to feel uneasy, as if there is indeed a ‘something’, something so forbidden or shameful it has to be hidden. We sense some kind of dread that marks out his fragility. We must tread carefully, lest the ‘nothing’ shows itself, revealing whatever it is that is only precariously held in check.
There is much about his past and current life to make us apprehensive. The first striking thing is there seems to be so little history. We are left with a strange absence of information about his early childhood or the life of his family. This however is made up for by a quite alarming story of his early adolescence. Severe self-harming and repeated suicide attempts say so much, that things were far from all right. They convey desperation. Adolescent turmoil of course is not uncommon; young teenagers
buffet around in a sea of extraordinary hormonal agitation and sheer bodily revolution. Their boat is truly rocked and the need for surrounding stability is vital to achieve balance and some degree of sanity. So too is the need for internal resources to steady the mounting disequilibrium – that is for a coherent ego, built on firm and reliable identifications. It would appear that in both respects, Harry lacked the support he needed at that time.
Adolescence is also a critical time of transition, a time when the individual has to let go, disengage, leave behind and ready him or herself for the commitments of the future. For those adolescents with a relatively favourable experience of security in childhood, the transition towards adulthood is likely to be experienced with enough inner strength. For those, however, whose early attachments have not been so secure – whether through high levels of ambivalence or more protracted