ABSTRACT
The appeal of the achievement of a developmental milestone for the child or adolescent is that it provides a sense that they must be normal after all, because they have been able to do something that is expected of them. The adolescents will make use of the analysis only when it can be seen to further their conscious aim of achieving the milestone within these narrow, goal-orientated parameters. This search for an external solution as a defence against internal development also features in the resistance of adult patients who try to hijack the analysis for the purpose of acquiring a formula for life or for the solution to a particular problem. The author demonstrates that a feature of the underlying dynamic between the analyst and the patient is the presence of a virtual other that becomes realized by the actual other as the analyst in the transference.
