ABSTRACT
The transference with a suicidal patient will always be unique for that patient and therapist. In fact, it is probably more accurate to say that the therapist is likely to be the object of multiple transferences and countertransferences, together or singly, during their treatment of a suicidal patient. However, this chapter will not focus on the transference dynamics that arise over the course of the psychotherapeutic treatment of a suicidal patient. Instead, it will consider the nature of the transference object during a particular time in treatment, the period just prior to a suicide attempt, which I refer to as the pre-suicide state. Clinical material from the analysis of a patient during a pre-suicide state will be presented to indicate the nature and psychic importance of a transference to the father during that time.
