A descriptive attempt to depict the vicissitudes of the intensive psychotherapy of chronic schizophrenia, this paper presents an account of the intensity of the experience for both the patient and therapist. Searles divides the course of therapy into four phases: 1, the 'out of contact' phase in which indistinct boundaries between patient and therapist create a chaotic interaction without the landmarks of identity present in neurotics; 2, the phase of 'ambivalent symbiosis', marked by intense transference and countertransference feelings and expressions as the therapist is forced by the patient into the role of 'bad mother'; 3, the stage of 'preambivalent symbiosis' where separation of identities of patient and therapist begins to occur; 4, the phase of 'resolution of symbiosis' when the illusions of omnipotence are gradually given up and separation from the therapist is achieved. During the last phase the therapist is tempted to teach and advise, and