Page - 233 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

Lost by the wayside – overstepping limits 233 also present: she is afraid of becoming insane again. Indeed, the very fact that she was not disturbed by her dream was disturbing. Its form shows a splitting between the content of the story and her feelings. Chrisse seems to have a minimal insight that she cuts off her feelings. Her insight that she might drown in this powerful river signifies the possibility of a relapse and new breakdown. She showed me that she knew she could fall into the dangerous river again, and she needed me to pull her out. For her, death has become impersonal. Chrisse’s dialogue with her chronically depressed mother was difficult: the mother suffered under her own illness and did not want to support Chrisse coming regularly to therapy. She often cancelled her daughter’s sessions or kept her at home during school vacations. End of therapy Chrisse and her parents ended her therapy in November, after I had cancelled one session due to my week -long vacation. Particularly with child or adolescent therapy, success and continuity are dependent on parental support. This means cooperation between therapist and parents. In Chrisse’s case, the father was very withdrawn and found it difficult to attend more than one parental meeting in Vienna from his apartment outside the city. The mother found it difficult to see how much Chrisse received from me, how important analysis was in her life, although the mother unconsciously felt herself to be much needier than Chrisse. Her life philosophy was to suppress all problems and pain and act as if there were no problem, although she was depressed, moody, irritable and a complainer, expe- riencing the world as inimical. From the last two sessions: Chrisse: (looks absentminded when entering) I saw a movie: it was about a form of life that was in the deep -freeze for 100 years, and that’s why they could fly and do other things people can’t. A: You come and tell me not about your life, but about the movie. Chrisse: These movies are my life. A: You are telling me that these films replace your life since your life is a nightmare. Chrisse: I had a dream. It was about a vampire who almost dies because he didn’t get any new blood. Then he found a mixture of old and fresh blood. Dr. T., to whom I also told my dream about the girl, the girl who was raped and abused, he said that he believes in reincarnation. That I dreamed things that happened to my mother. I asked my mother, she said yes, it did happen, but she can’t remember – it’s like a big black hole. A: It must be confusing when you don’t know whose problems you are dreaming. But after the session you missed, you’re telling me about a hungry vampire – like a baby who hasn’t gotten enough to eat from me and almost starved. Then there is only a black hole, as your mother says, full of terrible things . . .