ABSTRACT
Evelyn Hartman provides us with a most interesting account of her struggle to help her patient, Ron, to become more understanding of his long-standing vulnerability and need for empathic assistance and guidance as the foundation for being able to hold a more complex and compassionate view of himself. One could, no doubt, discuss her case study from many points of view. I will focus on one issue that strikes me as particularly interesting and significant, namely the relationship between oedipal and pre- (or other-than) oedipal issues. The former have been highlighted by the classical Freudian model, whereas object-relational, self-psychological, interpersonal, and relational perspectives have emphasized the latter.
