Wendy's dread: a case study

Wendy had been treated with various anti-depressants and anxiolytics for five years without success. She suffered various physical symptoms for which no physical cause had been found. Her doctor hoped psychotherapy might help. When we first met, her depression seemed to represent a deadened part of her that she wanted me to help come alive. Deprivation and abuse experienced during her early childhood had affected her preconceptions and assumptions about living a life, causing conflicts within herself and her relationships with others. In this case study I shall attempt to be open to Wendy's experience, follow and explore some of the disparate threads in her story. These include phenomena such as depression, anxiety,dream sequences, death, pregnancy and birth that were intermingled in what Wendy described as 'a dreadful life'.