Hope began her treatment with Dr. Marcus by telling him that her training analysis had been very helpful, but had not enabled her to get to the bottom of her difficulties. She made it clear that if this new analytic journey were to be successful, their true selves would have to meet. This is the story, told from both points of view, of how Hope helped her analyst develop the courage to risk responding directly from his unconscious, allowing their true selves to meet, while still maintaining the analytic frame. Intervening in this way the analyst sang to his patient, told her a dream he had about his daughter, and engaged in a spontaneous psychodrama in which they both expressed feelings of love, lust, frustration, anger and sadness. It was this emotional meeting of their true selves which seemed most responsible for the excellent outcome.

"This is a remarkable account of an analysis that in its frankness probably violates orthodoxy and ethical rules. The authors are to be commended for their openness in describing how they worked. Such truthful reports of what actually takes place in an analysis will allow us to make comparisons of a variety of techniques....This book is recommended to all who are interested in psychoanalysis and to ethics committees who want to keep informed as to where psychoanalytic practice may be heading." - The Journal Of Nervous and Mental Health, September 2008