ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author describes the early months of treatment of a little girl in five-times weekly analysis. "Martha" was 4 years old when she was referred for assessment. Although intelligent and musically gifted, she was disabled by fears and phobias, a need for rigid control, and an inability to form relationships outside her immediate family. The author focuses on the particular quality of the difficulties that she brought and considers what it was that analysts had to struggle with together for interpretative work to begin. The analysts began analysis about a month after the assessment, although for Martha it was as if there had been no real gap. They had begun analysis about six weeks before the summer break, and sessions continued in this rather ritualized way until then. Martha's situation at home has not provided the help she needs to begin to master the force of her early wishes and resentments.
