Martha:

Sandra Buchanan

doi:10.9791/ajpanz.2008.08

Sandra Buchanan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.9791/ajpanz.2008.08

Abstract

This article developed from the therapeutic case study that I wrote for NZAP membership in 2006. It follows my work with Martha, an adult woman, over the course of four years of individual therapy. Issues of loss and bereavement permeated the therapy, most obviously for the client but also for me. I struggled with times when the client's life experience, as spoken in session, was very close to my own; so close that I felt my ability to remain separate and able to think was in danger of being compromised. It seems to me these are issues that all of us must struggle with at times, and merit further discussion.

Author Biography

Sandra Buchanan

As recorded in 2008.

Sandra Buchanan trained as a psychodynamic psychotherapist through the three year, full time intensive internship offered at The Ashburn Clinic. Previous to this she lived and worked in London for many years where her work was varied but her life focus was in socialist activism. She is a member of NZAP and works both at the University of Otago's Student Health Service as a counsellor and in private practice. She is in a relationship with Bill, a specialist in the history of Kai Tahu in Otago, and benefits from immersion in his bicultural world.

Martha

Finding oneself in the other (Fonagy, 1999)

Abstract

Author Biography