She lay down on the couch the first time she came, having interrupted a previous analy¬sis abruptly and she said sire felt like she was lying in a coffin and that now the top of the coffin would be closed with a sharp click... she was deeply depressed and at times I thought I would lose her, that site would finally find a way out of the suffering and kill herself . at one time at the very worst moment of her analysis [after]. . perhaps a year and a half, she was so badly off I suddenly had the feeling—“you know, how would you feel if I let you hold my fingers for awhile now while you are talking, maybe that would help " A doubtful maneuver. I am not recommending it but I was desperate.
I was deeply worried. So I moved up a little bit เท my chair and gave her two fingers. And now I’ll tell you what IS so nice about that story. because an analyst always remains an analyst. I gave her my two fingers, site took hold of them and I immediately made a genetic interpretation—not to her of course, but to myself. It was the toothless gums of a very young child clamping down on an empty nipple. That IS the way it felt. I didn't say anything ... hut I reacted น) It even there as an analyst to myself, it was never nec¬essary anymore. I wouldn't say that it turned the tide, but it overcame a very, very diffi¬cult impasse at a given dangerous moment and, gaining time that way, we went on for many more years with a reasonably substantial success. (I ledges, 1992, pp 209 -210)’
This example is a dramatic and unusual instance of empathy. However, if shows Kohut's understanding and response น) his client within an object relations and self psychology context.