Effective Therapeutic Action During Paolo Stramba-Badiale’s Analytic Experience With Veronica

Abstract

Veronica, a 39-year-old woman, struggled with severe attachment anxiety stemming from frequent attachment trauma episodes throughout her life. She presented with problems in affect regulation, object and self constancy, and reality testing. She relied heavily on primitive concrete modes of thinking, and struggled with overwhelming shame and guilt, seeking their expiation in sadomasochistic relationships. Dr. Stramba-Badiale’s exquisite, intrepid use of self analysis enabled him to contain Veronica’s nonverbal, as well as verbal, primitive affects and enabled a co-created therapeutic alliance sufficiently safe to analyze the primitive horrors in her relationships with mother, father, sisters, and husband. This eventuated in marked improvement in affect regulation, object and self constancy, a sense of herself as a good enough mother deserving good for herself and her daughter. Notably, there was no mention of any sexual or triadic aspects in her object relationships.