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.