Outcome and prognosis
The work of strengthening this steadfast, centered, full, yet joyful and
energetic part of herself continues during the sessions, and gradually
many changes occur in the way Lia copes with new decisions. At present
Lia cannot be any longer diagnosed with DPD, her anxiety is reduced and
most of the times she can control it. She currently cannot go back to
her old job but applies for a competition for the role of manager to
perform a task very similar to what she did in the past, but from Italy.
Lia passes the first test and experiences this prospect of change with
serenity and joy. After a year of separation from her former partner,
she begins dating a man who lives in a distant city and with whom she
feels free to express herself. Now she is no longer driven by the need
to form a stable bond and have a child, but is eager to experience a
more independent life. She travels a lot with old and new friends and
feels that she belongs to a group. She reflects more consciously on her
past history and makes sense of the times when she wrote her name
everywhere as a child: “I needed to say I existed”. After a few months
she tells the therapist that she decided not to go ahead with IVF
because she realized that “I wanted a child to feel like myself…. I
realized that having a child would give me a role and therefore an
identity…. but I don’t need that anymore, as I exist and I want to
give space to me. If I ever have a child someday, it will not be to feel
me, but it will be me and him”. During the last therapy session, Lia
told the therapist that the following week, as she had wanted since
childhood, she would go paragliding.