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This paper explores intergenerational transmission of trauma presented in a patient with bodily distress that she could not symbolise. The bodily distress was sustained by a quality of imitation and served a lack of a feminine identification. Psychic symbolisation posed a threat to psychic survival. Bodily distress is conceptualised as a compromise solution, where early developmental trauma and transmitted attachment were contained, as well as expressed through physical symptoms. The paper explores how the patient psychologically secured an unspoken femininity whilst preserving the fantasy of masculinity, a psychological conflict that negatively impacted on her physical health. Transference was complex, oscillating between different figures in the patient's life - ghosts of the past, and creating an overwhelming sense of anxiety in the therapist. The patient who was hostage and carrier of intergenerational transmission of attachment/trauma had been helped to gradually break free of ‘ghosts from the past’ by owning her femininity through a process of working through her trauma. She developed a reflective function and through internalising a responsive, empathic therapist, the ability to mentalise and symbolise, therefore making sense of her trauma.