Based on the case history of Melanie, a patient who has been resistant to treatment for many years, the author examines in this article the processes of change that can be envisaged in melancholia. Establishing a bond of trust during therapeutic sessions on a long-term basis – albeit initially difficult because of the ambivalent treatment of the object in melancholia – appears to be a solution. The author shows that the transference relationship with the patient in analysis is a tool for accessing processes of change at the levels of instinctual drive dynamics, identifications and capacities for symbolization. In Melanie's case, the idea of metamorphosis into a wolf (lycanthropy), and the dream activity associated with it, are used as a therapeutic lever for opening up a transformation of the psychic economy and inaugurating the beginnings of a structuring relationship with the forbidden, lack and repression.