ABSTRACT
Maturity in the analyst leads to therapeutic change in the patient, because when an analyst is blocked, it implies there is underdevelopment in the analyst that frustrates the process. An analysis is central to a psychoanalyst's formation because its goal is to liberate the patient from fixations so that the maturational process can develop unhindered. Analytic societies recognize that this is necessary in an analyst because his or her therapeutic work is deficient without it. Interpretation is thought by many to be the central agent of change, but logically there is an inconsistency. The author believes that there are two reasons for this inconsistency. First, there is a resistance to the truth that maturity is an agent of change, and second, there is a desire to stress the importance of interpretation. The author looks at this resistance and explores the reasons why interpretation is important. If maturity is an agent of change then the analyst is subservient to the process.
