I wanted to carry on thinking about “hobbling,”something I’m becoming vey used to at the moment with my broken leg. I commented that the main problems with my leg occur when I’m in transition. Getting from one place to another requires a deep breath, a certain amount of swearing and considerable effort. Add anxiety to that list, depending on the transition being needed. Walking across my front room to the kitchen is relatively straightforward. There are chairs, doors, bookcases etc to hold on to. Walking into the garden is more challenging. I have to climb four steps and balance at the top or the bottom depending on where I’m going. This usually means my wife standing behind me or in front, offering me my zimmer or crutches which I grab thankfully as I totter up the garden.

I see these as transitional spaces, where I go from one place to another. When I think of the idea of a transitional zone, two different images come to mind. One is of athletics and the Relay. The other is of a baby beginning to crawl or walk. With the Relay, the runners have a limited space in which to pass on the baton. With a baby, nowhere is out of bounds once it begins to explore! The challenge is to contain it safely without spoiling its enthusiasm and curiosity.

In the Relay, the handover can determine the outcome of the whole race. Even Linford Christie can’t compensate for a dropped baton. There is nothing spontaneous about the transition. The runners practice. And practice. And practice. And even this is no guarantee of a wining run. Baby, however, is just as driven but from within. (And terrifyingly fearless, as every parent knows!) Everything is geared towards mobility and exploration. It is this life force that one sees as a therapist and which one tries to harness. As the therapy progresses, it is this energy that makes all the difference. Can they use it to help them through their transition zones? Therapy involves many transitions. Not the least being the sheer act of choosing therapy in the first place. To come to a complete stranger and begin to share one’s soul with them is no small task. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” commented the author of the book of Hebrews. Much the same might be said of falling into the hands of a therapist! We hope to be caught by a pair of safe and caring hands. Freud said of psychoanalysis that “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as most beautiful.” He was right. But it requires courage. And energy. To be willing to explore one’s inner world and use this process creatively is risky. Far safer to never try and move from one place to another. To stay moribund whilst one’s world shrinks. But whilst there is little or no pain this way, neither is there growth and development.

The challenge for both therapist and patient is to strengthen the will to move. To invest in the Life instinct (eros) rather than the Death instinct (thanatos). Which as we all know, is sometimes easier to say than to do!