Because of the life-threatening nature of anorexia nervosa (which makes it unlike most psychiatric conditions) as well as the intense need in anorectic patients to recreate with their therapists the symbiosis with mother which is at the core of their illness, psychotherapy with these patients leads to very powerful countertransference reactions in the therapist. The author contends that, to help the patient truly resolve the original symbiosis, it is crucially important that the therapist understand and tolerate these most painful, uncomfortable emotions within her/himself for a period of time in treatment. He illustrates his thesis with a detailed case history of an adolescent girl treated for anorexia nervosa at a residential treatment center. The case clearly shows this illness to be "a symbolic expression of a patient's desperate need to maintain control … a defense against feelings of being annihilated and destroyed." The author believes that resolution of the symbiosis in the transference, not manipulation by behavior modification to control symptoms, provides cure of the illness.