I think Dr Goldstein makes an important point when wondering about the meaning of the symtoms. It seems for me like Caroline has a lot of problems in developing an independent self due to the massive pressure shes been exposed to from her family. By not allowed having any thoughts or feelings as an independent individual the battle evolves around her last fortress: her body. In the way she treats her body, indulging in alcoholism, cocaine, sexualization etc, she might both show aggressiveness/rage towards her family as well as a need to been taken care of. However, I think it is also important to see those symtoms as a way to show a very primitive way of independence "look I can do whatever to my body and you (the family) can’t stop me…" Even though its on a very immature, destructive level it got some potential if handled in an appropriate way during therapy. The first intervention by Dr Edmund, in which she identifies the core conflict about Caroline, was very accurate in my eyes. I am though wondering how the therapist in Control Mastery Therapy deals with countertransference? My experience is that if the therapist take too much control away from a patient that has a severe conflict about dependence/independence and lacks differentiation between self/object the response is massive rage combined with a high likelihood of uncontrolled, destructive acting-out. I am looking forward for the rest of the story to see how Dr Edmund will deal with it. Thanks to both Dr Broitman and Dr Edmund for their interesting presentation.