The father, the mother, the child and the therapist

Freud saw depression as the consequence of a loss in which the shadow of th e lost object falls on the ego. Linking up to this, this paper examines the significance of the father's absence in connection to the origin and the t reatment of the development of depressive disorders. Keeping the focus on t he father, it describes the processes of depression in terms of a dysfuncti on at internalization. This lack is caused by insufficient opportunities to identify with the father as a third object, thus hindering the early trian gulation process. On the basis of the psychotherapeutic treatment of a six- year-old bay, this paper shows what kind of changes occur in the child and the parents while dealing with the disorder of early triangulation and what role the therapist takes on as the third object both for the child and the parents. To be able to successfully handle the early relationship with the mother it is a prerequisite to tl trigger the identification with the fath erly third object during therapy. A tendency to acting out their desire for body contact is characteristic for the therapeutic relationship with those patients who show lacking experience in the relationship with the father. To conclude the following question will be put: to what extent can positive effects: of low frequent psychotherapy be deduced from a therapeutic treat ment of dysfunction in the mother-child relationship or from the fact that the object relationship to the father was improved and triangulation proces ses were enabled?