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A thirty-five-year-old patient entered a psychiatric hospital because of serious depression with suicide potential. She had sought psychotherapy two years earlier because of profound feelings of inadequacy. Her status had improved markedly in the course of a psychotherapy that was characterized by an intense idealizing transference. During this progress, she escalated demands for the therapist's time and attention, and eventually the latter could not safely manage the case on an outpatient basis.
The explicit goal of treatment was to reduce the psychotic transference to the therapist. After the treatment team members had established an alliance with the patient, they deliberately interfered with her relationship with the therapist. Their explicit aim was to facilitate her developing at least one significant relationship with someone in the hospital. The team planned to study the emerging transference- countertransference feelings with this person under controlled conditions, and to help the patient resolve them. The author reports how this plan was implemented and how it succeeded.