Presents the case of a young girl who developed a severe depressive state with suicidal thoughts in the midst of her parents’ problems & divorce proceedings. The focus is on what in the family milieu of divorce interfered with the psychoanalytic process rather than what propelled it. The S entered analysis as a frightened, passive, withdrawn child overwhelmed by depressive affect & self-injurious preoccupations & she remained in analysis for 35 months. (3 refs.)