ABSTRACT
Several years into her analysis, my patient Iris said to me, “Our work will be done when I have had enough time with you, when I have been as comfortable in my body as one can be in an old sweatshirt.” When I asked her to tell me how that might feel, she said, “I would be able to be fully in my body, in your presence, and able to move freely around your room and touch and see things from my real self without fear. I would be able to give up the fear that comes with constantly overthinking and evaluating whether I really have or deserve your availability. I would be able to take for granted that it is fine with you that I can take you for granted.” This vision marked a nodal point in Iris’s growth in her treatment, and has served as a beacon for changes to come. I am grateful to Iris for her imagery. We analysts need more descriptions of mutative events (Spence, 1996), of healing moments and states of wellness, in our literature.
