The author describes the analytic treatment and transference experiences of a woman in her late twenties. Her understanding of the material presented by the patient relies on concepts from developmental psychology, learning theory, and communications science. She feels the patient's primary difficulties started before she had the capacity to symbolize and, because of this, the use of empathy by the therapist is essential for "development of the capacity for intersubjective relatedness." Through this process she feels she is able to verbalize "unrememberable" experiences of the patient. A more traditional way to view the patient would be as an obsessional character with preoedipal fixations who felt she has achieved an oedipal triumph and then regressed from that position. However, interpretations based on this understanding did not lead to progress in the analysis. The author presents much clinical material to bolster her premise that the new way of understanding and approaching the patient was successful.