ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an intriguing look into the hidden world of the consulting room through a case study of Jenny. Jenny was adopted at birth, an only child brought up in a middle-class family in Sussex. When Jenny was thirty-five, her parents died quite suddenly, first her mother and then six months later her father. Jenny felt whole and happy and in the aftermath of her grief following the loss of her parents, she had welcomed her new-found mother and half-brothers. Jenny had been adopted into a happy home. She had been cared for and felt valued and had not dealt with every crisis of adolescence by pining for her 'real' parents. Although psychoanalysis is most known for its five times a week, long-term analysis, Winnicott ran a 'snack bar' consultation service at Paddington Green, where he saw many mother-baby couples for just one or two meetings in which he would endeavour to help restart processes that had become derailed.
