In this article, the author uses the astrophysical term of the ‘black hole’ to describe the subjective feelings of patients who have experienced trauma in their inter-personal relationships, such as sudden separation or adultery. Such experiences are actually breakdowns that occurred in the past, but were not fully experienced. The fall into a black hole represents a deep regressive state in which the patient encounters a psychic deadness that he or she has tried to avoid. Presencing and therapeutic passion on the side of the therapist can help them to survive and confront dissociated self-states. Recovery from a black hole experience relies on physical and psychic aliveness, which are facilitated by the analytic setting.