Sublime

By their questions and their attention, their careful probing and investigative stealth, the therapist tries – harder than anyone may yet have done – to discover how our presenting problem might be related to the rest of our existence and, in particular, to the turmoils of childhood. Over many sessions, a succession of small discoveries contributes

own self-worth to continuous obsession with the children’s wellbeing as a means to earn approval and be “a good mother,” which in turn leads her to mature herself in some key areas, though not all. She may pressure her detached husband to change his behaviors and “become a better father,” but because he does not experience the emotional urgency in

In some ways, the distinction between normalcy and pathology is arbitrarily defined—as well as hard to measure.