Final Thoughts on the Case of Pamela and Commentaries

Much gratitude is offered to Drs. Bach and Bromberg for their rich discussions of the case. Some reflections and final thoughts are gathered. The value of the single case study is underlined. The emphases by Bach and Bromberg on the centrality of trauma, failures in recognition, and the healing fostered by acceptance, consistency, and care in the treatment are highlighted. Bach points to the patient's need to regress and to “float in her own subjectivity” in the treatment, to not be impinged on by another “I” in the room. Bromberg's focus is on the need to accept all of the patient's different self states, including the guardian of the weak vulnerable self. Bach highlights the unbalancing of the analyst's narcissistic equilibrium in enactment and Bromberg emphasizes the importance of real and spontaneous engagement. Both point to how such enactments involve a crucial unthought living through of the central trauma itself in the treatment of such patients. The analyst is both in the enactment and a witness to it, allowing for the transformation of traumatic affect and bodily memory. The issue of regression and the concept of the false self are highlighted as topics for further discussion.