Working with borderline patients is not easy, but it is extremely rewarding in many ways. It provides a deeper and deeper understanding of the development of ego functioning and warps in ego development that can be applied to all areas of psychopathology. It forces the therapist to constantly pursue and achieve a deeper understanding of himself and demands an ever-increasing maturity from him. Most important of all, when successful, it brings the patient back to life from a situation of psychic death, a state of unparalleled suffering portrayed with great skill in modem theater and literature, beginning perhaps with Dostoyevsky. (35 pp.)