Chapter 13. Case “A” (7)

Toward the end of the year, A’s therapeutic course became generally stable. One day A stated that in her eyes, Dr. B and I are like her parents. A idealizes us while mentioning frequently how much she felt she was not cared for by her parents who are “only preoccupied with themselves”. A’s work at the restaurant is also going well and she now is regarded as a very trustworthy hard working staff. Her relationship with a new boyfriend is also stable, unlike her recent couple of relationships which ended prematurely mainly due to her insecurity. A’s dissociative symptoms still appeared off and on, and now her child identity shows up very regularly in front of C as well as Dr. B and I. I was under the impression that this frequent appearance of A’s child identity allowed for her more stable job performance and relationship with others. Generally I feel comfortable with the treatment setting for A as I felt more secure to be in a partnership with Dr. B for A’s treatment.
However, there were many issues going on in her weekly psychotherapy with Dr. B. According to her report, A sometimes became insecure in her relationship with C, especially when C’s work schedule was tight and A felt that he was not paying enough attention to her. When she felt lonely, she often scratched herself with her fingernails during the sessions. She also got emotional and tearful after the session with Dr. B, and asked the receptionist to relay her wish to talk to Dr. B again for a while. In her session with me, A also became dazed and about to switch into a child identity when her painful past memories are discussed.
In one day in October, I had a session with A’s parents that I have planned for some time. As A complained so much about her parents, I wanted to know more about their side of view on As’ life history. I was also concerned about their reaction as my and Dr. B’s role became something similar to their own. This was my first meeting with them since the intake session six months ago where I had a brief contact with them.