ABSTRACT
Sophie, a 34-year-old successful Israeli businesswoman, started her analysis preoccupied with her future, filled with dread that she would never be able to become a mother and that “the clock is ticking, time passes too fast, and I just can’t make it.” Sophie begins the analysis in a state of agitation, very concrete, desperately asking again and again, “What should I do? Is anything going to change soon?” Our main focus is on her desperation and hunger. Sophie expresses her longing for a baby, while I experience her as a demanding girl who requests that I feed her as an omnipotent mother who knows everything about the past, present, and future. “What do you think, does he love me?” “What should I do? Tell me … ” she asks again and again. I am supposed to know her future and help her to make it happen, but in my mind I hear myself echoing her: “Oh, what a hopeless treatment … Will anything ever change?” At that point, we are both frustrated. She has a limited ability to know her mind, use symbolic language, or play. Rather, it’s as if Sophie is so hungry and empty that she has to immediately “swallow” everything I give her.
