To the article of love

On the basis of a clinical case study of a young woman suffering from vaginismus, subject to violent treatment from her lovers, the author shows how the parental unconscious – in particular, that of the mother – continues to be active in the daughter’s unconscious well beyond childhood. The transference relationship is the key to permitting new psychic contents to emerge, enabling the subject to escape from the death-dealing confinement of incest. When the self encounters its inner other, an encounter with the outer other can occur. The death-dealing contents can be disintricated and feeling can be expressed.