A case illustration of resistance from a psychodynamic perspective

This clinical vignette illustrates a case of resistance during the course of a psychodynamic psychotherapy. The client is a chronically depressed woman struggling to expand beyond her familiar and, in many ways, gratifying role as a "good little girl" who seeks and often obtains reassurance and appreciation from paternalistic figures. She also has become increasingly aware of the cost of rigidly maintaining this role, which inhibits her experience of herself as a competent, assertive, and sexually mature woman. The client is at an advanced stage of her therapy, and in the vignette one sees her working through this conflict by addressing her experience both in her family of origin and in the therapeutic relationship. Her efforts to resolve this core issue, and her concurrent resistances, are exhibited in this presentation.