ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the essential issues by identifying the most distinctive characteristics and the most general traits, and by striving to grapple with relatively specific configurations. It describes the real "disillusions" of psychoanalytic work, that is, those that do not simply cause temporary disappointments which work out in the end. The chapter suggests that it was possible to accomplish excellent psychoanalytic work face to face. This frequently defended position sought to emphasize what the diverse methods had in common. However, it has to be recognized that these technical variations must be associated with psychoanalytical psychotherapy rather than psychoanalysis proper. The psychoanalytic ideal is preserved, and the fruitfulness of certain new psychotherapeutic techniques needs to be recognized. The chapter concludes that it is less difficult to sketch in broad outline what characterizes, for a psychoanalyst, the signs of success of the psychoanalytic method.
