ABSTRACT
Adolfo and Mireya wanted to start psychoanalytic couple therapy after their individual analyses proved to be insufficient to overcome a marital crisis that surfaced when Mireya discovered that Adolfo was having an affair with another woman, whom he described as "a mature doctor". Adolfo was a well-regarded specialist physician, while Mireya, who trained as a lawyer, had been going from one job to another without really developing a professional career. The clinical material illustrates how difficult it has been for Adolfo and Mireya to mourn their projective decompensation. Adolfo, is an established and well-regarded physician and Mireya, despite being trained as a lawyer, has never really established herself in a career or as a grown up partner to Adolfo. Although Adolfo perhaps is closer to his feelings of unraveling, Mireya talks of being separate and of the anxiety that "no one is there".
