ABSTRACT
The feeling of longing can be understood as a masking operation covering more profound feelings of depression, inner emptiness, and despair. Inasmuch as the sense of longing has been romanticized in our culture, it is easy for the analyst to miss what the patient is unconsciously communicating when he or she longs for something. Longing can be best understood as an emotional trap. Perhaps this is why George Bernard Shaw once said, “Be careful of what you’re looking for m this life, my boy, because someday you may find it.”
