ABSTRACT
This chapter offers some process material between October 2006 and July 2007 as it proved to be a period of time when elements of sadomasochism came to the forefront of the analysis. Diane's Dowling struggle with herself and in her relationships is rooted in her sadomasochism. Diane, a forty-year-old single woman, is a top academic in a prominent educational institution. She was raised in a working class Irish Catholic family. From early childhood, Diane excelled at athletics and successfully competed on boys' teams, often outplaying the boys. She felt intent on surpassing her older brother, athletically. Diane came to psychoanalysis unhappy in her relationship with a woman who was a victim of sexual abuse. Diane felt frustrated by her partner's unavailability for intimacy. The early phase of Diane's analysis was about her search for a psychological inroad to relieve her chronic pain. Diane describes her painful "submission" to her partner and her arousal in that pain.
