ABSTRACT
In a certain setting Sigmund Freud dealt with the material produced by the patient and a great deal of his work was concerned with the immense problem of how to deal with this material. In some cases, however, it turns out in the end or even at the beginning that the setting and the maintenance of the setting are as important as the way one deals with the material. In some patients with a certain type of diagnosis the provision and maintenance of the setting are more important than the interpretative work. In the ordinary case one is cashing in on the work done by the parents, and particularly by the mother, in the early childhood and infancy of the patient. Often at this point it is a matter of life and death and the wise analyst stops the analysis knowing and acknowledging openly that he is unable to do the next part which is what the patient wanted.
