An American Psychotherapy: Finding the Patient in History and Dreams

This article immerses the reader in the psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy of an adult patient suffering from extreme loneliness. It describes healing that occurs slowly and involves the psychotherapist's active searching-through historical research, dreaming, and countertransference-to locate and recognize the patient. It demonstrates how the confluence of personal history with larger sociohistorical forces can be revealed through enactment in the transference and countertransference.