Page - 232 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

232 Lost by the wayside – overstepping limits Excerpt from a session: Chrisse entered without her schoolbag and told me she was coming from Mar- lies’ house, since school had ended three hours earlier and she could stay there. Chrisse: After this session, I’m going over to her house again and staying until 6, then we’re going to watch movies together. On Monday I’m going to the hospital again for a checkup. I had a dream: I am with a friend and we have a bow and arrow and we are walking through the woods. We come to a cliff with a steep drop, but in front of it is a mediumhigh stone wall. When I look down, I see a big turquoise lake – a forest on its shores would be even better. A little dinosaur comes towards us. I span my bow – I don’t know if I shot the arrow, but the dinosaur falls down. We walk onwards, I don’t know if it’s a male or female friend. We get into the river with a strong current. With our last strength, we manage to save our- selves from the river. Then a figure comes up, like the black prince I told you about. He was my brother – but only as camouflage, so that nobody would recognize that he represents my dark side. Once recently I had the idea that my soul could separate from me. A: That makes you afraid, when you have such thoughts. Chrisse: Afraid, no. I don’t have any kind of feeling – and in the dream I also didn’t have any feeling. I also didn’t know whether I was active. I only spanned the bow. Otherwise I am always dreaming that something happens to me, that I’m the victim and I can’t do anything. A: In the dream, you manage to save yourselves with your last strength out of the water. You are telling me also how desperately you need help in order to get you out. You noticed that you weren’t at all afraid in the dream, as if it were happening to another person. You are also showing me how threatening it is to spend the weekend without a session. Chrisse: I could speak twice with my mother about my dreams and my worries whether I would really manage at school. A: When I am not there, you can speak with your mother. You want to see if I can recognize how dangerous your situation is, being almost on the edge of a cliff with an attractive turquoise lake beneath. Chrisse: Anyone who was so close to death and has cut herself will never forget it. Discussion Interestingly, Chrisse’s feelings in the dream were completely polarized. She did not feel fear. Her dream and the way in which she recounted it show her psychotic structure. Although the dream resembled her fantasy stories, another factor was