Abstract

Abstract This article is about one aspect of psychoanalytic theory applied to a counselling case history. A life story is presented before explicitly theoretical interpretation. An attempt is then made to syncretize Freud's and Klein's theories into a more abstract psychoanalytic concept called the ‘triangulation principle’. The story is re-read in the light of this concept, showing how psychoanalysis helped the counsellor make sense of the material presented. The article concludes with a critical look at the application of theory to the process of counselling, its advantages and pitfalls, and asks whether psychoanalytic theory is a description of ‘fact’ or, alternatively, an extremely useful way of giving words to the unspoken.