The psyche is like a file cabinet belonging to someone with very few folders. She therefore has to place files in folders with very general rather than specific or exact titles. “Abandonment,” for instance, is one title of a folder in the cabinet. “He didn’t call back,” “He didn’t notice my new dress,” “He didn’t kiss me the way he used to,” “He didn’t come back home at all”—all these go into the same folder irrespective of their varying levels of importance. They hit with equal impact.
