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Sullivan emphasizes the importance of a “double hearing”—listening not only to the associations important for the analysis of masculine and feminine identifications but also to the associations prompted by the analyst's own femininity to
provide some little access to the biological rock that is specific to the feminine. She refers primarily to the possibility of the reception of otherness, of difference. These indications of feminine receptivity sometimes go beyond the capacity of language. Sullivan discusses some vignettes excerpted from her work with Mme. V, a depressed woman for whom even the fact of being a woman presented a problem. Through the presentation of her interventions in sessions, Sullivan demonstrates a blend of classical analytic technique with attention to issues of receptivity which she found particularly helpful with this patient. This other “method,” difficult to define, is related to her own receptivity which she brings to the material presented by the patient. Female analysts should be aware of their own femininity in order to help their female patients come into contact with theirs.