ABSTRACT
An analytic process begins, for analyst and patient alike, before they ever meet and continues developing after the interruption of regular sessions. Indeed, there is reason to believe that a major part of the therapeutic process happens after the termination. There is a certain agreement, among psychoanalysts, that the analytic process continues and evolves after the discontinuation of the sessions. The chapter describes the two phases of an analytic treatment, in its ordinary sense: the closure or termination phase, and the aftermath or post-analysis. Most contemporary analysts would agree that terminating a treatment cannot be done as a merely administrative measure, but that it should involve a termination phase in which the very fact that the analysis is about to end should be analytically enquired into. Ending an analysis is a major transition in a person's life, and one would expect that the analyst help the patient to go through this.
