ABSTRACT
One of the central issues in finishing the work is the difference between ending and stopping. Ending is a process. Stopping is just that – stopping. Ending involves a planned interaction between two people over time. In the cases where the client insists on stopping and thereby eliminating the ending process, it is useful to ask oneself and to consider with the client why he needs to do so. The client who stops rather than ends will have all sorts of means, conscious and unconscious, at his disposal to ensure that it happens in just that way. In some of the shorter-term forms of the work, and especially where a service provider is involved, the end might be prescribed from the beginning. A patient with a powerful memory of a traumatic leave-taking early in life wants to set a date far in advance, as if expecting an equally traumatic experience.
