ABSTRACT
Joel was thirty years old when he first came to see me. He called me about nine years ago, with a sense of urgency in his voice, telling me his analyst had sent him to me because he needed to work with a female psychoanalyst. This seemed somewhat strange and my first impulse was to say no. However, I noticed a kind of hopelessness in him (behind a polished and cold voice), which meant he expected me to say no. Something about that made me reconsider this refusal.
