The paper searches for and reflects on Jean Laplanche’s three conceptualizations of the unconscious in the analytic work with a young woman who began analysis when she was 16 years old and had been diagnosed bipolar, formally termed manic depressive. The analysis of the analytic work is supplemented with Christopher Bollas’ ideas on working with manic depressive patients. When reading his reflections the author began to understand how and why her work with this particular patient seemed so different from other experiences in her consulting room and especially her understanding of herself as an analyst.