Images Of Endings

This paper is about endings—specifically endings of analytical relationships. There is perhaps no comparable relationship in terms of intimacy and sharing between two people to that which is formed for the purpose of analysis. Unlike most other intimate relationships, however, there is a likelihood that at some point in time, the relationship will be ended. This ending is an integral part of the process, and is as important as the beginning and middle of the work. However, from discussion with colleagues, and review of the current published literature it seems to have been largely neglected.

My interest in exploring the images and experiences associated with termination from analysis began during an analytical hour with a forty-two-year-old professional woman with whom I had worked for two years. She began the hour by relating the following dream:

I put an egg in the frying pan to cook. My husband and sons wanted to go somewhere—a distance. I said I'd follow them in my own car. I like my egg real cooked anyway—I liked the crisp part so I'd let the whole thing get that way.… On the freeway, I suddenly pulled over. I was pleased that my husband saw and pulled over too. I had to go back and get my egg. I was afraid of setting the whole house on fire if I stayed away longer. I wondered why I had put the egg on to cook since it didn't matter now. I'd rather be off with my family. But now I couldn't let the egg cook unattended any longer without endangering the house. When I got back home, my egg was burnt black! I didn't seem disappointed … I went blithely about my life. I think though there was a gnawing feeling of missing my family.

After telling the dream, she asked, ‘Does that mean I am ready to terminate? The egg is too cooked and maybe it is saying that our work is overdone.’ Intuitively I did not agree with this interpretation. When we discussed the dream, she had no associations to any of the images beyond her question of termination. I suggested that the dream migh