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Mrs. S is an attractive, athletically built mother in her late thirties.1 She had originally begun psychotherapy in another city when she had been in a state of severe anxiety and distress. She responded well to the help she received and began analysis. However, she and her husband had to leave the city for a remote area. After returning to a community in which analysis was possible, she acted on her long-held resolution to complete what she felt was “the unfinished business of her analysis.” She was at the time of resuming her analysis mildly distressed about a number of issues, including low self-esteem and her sexual relations with her husband.
Mrs. S had never had trouble getting along with people, except for her brother, who was two years older than she. He was the only person she did not feel comfortable with. Her father had been a moderately successful politician; she described her mother as having a drinking problem. During her childhood her parents frequently went away on trips. The mother believed that if one just quietly left, the children would not be upset, so Mrs. S and her