ABSTRACT
A woman is to meet a man who is unknown to her. Her heart is beating fast as she sits, trying to read. Soon someone comes to take her to his room. He rises to greet her. She would remember afterwards that he was smiling, his hand outstretched. As she sits down in the chair she says: ``I hope I can answer your questions.'' The background to their meeting is an illness she has suffered for the last three years. For the ®rst nine months she was investigated by neurologists who ®nally realized that she was suffering an anxiety state which included panic attacks. She has been treated subsequently by behavioral techniques, with no success. She is now in hospital for more intensive treatment. During her stay she has been asked to meet an eminent visiting psychotherapist.1 At ®rst sight, the context explains her curious opening remark. Yet nobody else the therapist has met on his visit to the hospital has opened the conversation in this way. Her spontaneously expressed hope is likely to have a personal signi®cance.
