I See Your Face Before Me: Some Thoughts on Carol Ganzer’s Becoming Visible

Abstract

This commentary on Dr Ganzer’s thoughtful account of her work with a challenging patient in a residential treatment setting is organized around three areas of interest. The first concerns the residential setting itself that, in my experience, is often characterized by tensions reflecting the complex interactions between the therapist, the patient and the staff. I note that the setting also provides a window into the patient’s experience beyond the psychotherapeutic hour. Secondly, I explore the patient’s history with an eye to its place in the treatment and the emergence of significant metaphors that seem to organize the relationship between Dr. Ganzer and Collette. Finally, I offer ideas on the therapeutic interaction and how Dr. Ganzer’s presence played such an important role in Collette being seen and the powerful and poignant experience of recognition. I note, again, the role metaphor plays in the treatment and comment on Dr. Ganzer’s thoughts on how a Relational approach with an emphasis on enactments might have deepened the treatment.