ABSTRACT
In a symbolic way death and rebirth, loss and fear of the different separation experiences, need to be faced as an essential part of the individuation process at each stage of a life cycle. This chapter explores the special issues that coloured the therapeutic relationship with two patients, Anna and Otto. In both therapies there was an urgency of time running out and a separation to be achieved. Anna's journey was towards motherhood, separating her from being tied to a mother, unable to protect her child, and separating the infant's delusional fantasies from her adult reality. Otto, terminally ill, needed a space to reflect on his life and to know what life, in its unfairness, had taken away. The thinking presence of the therapist enabled a separation from the infant's delusional world of omnipotence to take place as Anna's fantasies were challenged in the adult reality.
