ABSTRACT
Karen, a 30-year-old divorced woman, living alone and employed as a secretary at an advertising agency, entered treatment presenting herself as helpless and speaking about herself in a way that made us think of her as quite childlike and dependent. Analysis of Karen's defense of isolation of affect yielded some changes. Her constricted tone of voice altered, and strong affects, especially depression and rage, emerged. Due to the working through of some of her hostility and spite, Karen began to fantasize participating in a ménage à trois or having a homosexual relationship. These fantasies both frightened and excited her. Fantasies from the Oedipal phase of her development led to her taking on a number of character attitudes that have also served as resistance to the treatment. Karen dreamed that she was given a large apartment with many rooms that was structurally sound but involved lots of work within the rooms and possibly the help of an architect and a super.
