ABSTRACT
Lois was a depressed, withdrawn woman in her mid-thirties when she consulted therapist. She had a previous diagnosis of chronic paranoid schizophrenia, had been hospitalised several times, and had been treated for the previous seven years with antipsychotic medication. The diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia had been made during one of her first hospitalisations, when she told a psychiatrist about the two rats gnawing at her. The diagnosis was more correct than he knew, but by failing to help her try to fathom the meaning of the two rats gnawing at her, he missed the opportunity to open a pathway to an understanding of Lois’ projected imagination. She agreed that the rats might represent her two children gnawing at her feelings. She seemed comforted by this sense, and much more willing to bring up historical and intrapsychic and emotional material that had persisted for many years.
