Citation

Lamprell M. Br. J. Psychother. 1999; 15(4): 439-451.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1752-0118.1999.tb00474.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The writer considers why some patients present an apparent commitment to the work of therapy, through regular and reliable attendance at sessions, whilst seeming to disregard or attack anything of value in the therapy. He finds some answers in Shakespeare's King Lear. The therapist, whilst being abused, like the Fool in Lear, is providing an essential management of a split which enables the patient to feel neither narcissistic pain nor dependency anxiety.