ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of Monika, who has been suffering from an “odd kind of tension and anxiety”. She has never attached any great significance to all this, but this changed during the stressful preparations for her first medical degree examination, which brought about stomach troubles, irregular menstruation, and violent headaches. First she feared she might have abdominal cancer, later a brain tumour, or something like that. Both her family doctor and her gynaecologist did their best to reassure her, telling her that the symptoms were caused by stress. In therapeutic relationship, Monika initially makes a worldly-wise, self-confident impression. She broaches topics of general interest to demonstrate her intellectual assurance. The first five sessions are taken up with Monika’s descriptions of her ailments. As Monika engages with her fantasies, memories, and wishes, her present anxieties and physical ailments recede into the background.
