ABSTRACT
The criteria for termination can be classified under many possible headings. The first heading is that of instinctual aims. The second group of criteria can be summed up under the heading: relation to instinctual objects. The third group of criteria can be summed up under the heading: structure of the ego. As the attempt to establish theoretical standards did not prove promising, authors shall drop the search for external criteria and try to describe clinically what actually happens when an analysis terminates. It is interesting to note that those who think that mature genitality is not simply a chance sum-total of a motley mixture of component sexual instincts but a function per se, also think that health is a 'natural' equilibrium and the termination of a psycho-analytic cure is a 'natural' process. As for the time being there is no possibility of control or verification, all statements about truly terminated analyses are, of necessity, subjectively coloured and therefore not absolutely reliable.
