Identifying the attachment need and form of relatedness in the forefront on a moment to moment basis within the psychoanalytic hour substantially impacts effective communicative exchanges. When safety, regulation of affect, and selfobject needs are in the foreground, the analyst'S subjectivity is important to the extent that it can be used for developmental and self-regulatory purposes. Other aspects of the analyst'S subjectivity can be experienced as intrusive and rupturing of the needed safety and selfobject connection . In contrast, when intersubjective relatedness or self-with-other needs are in the forefront, the insufficient presence of the analyst and the analyst'S su bjectivitv can be experienced as frustrating and as thwarting the developmentally needed connection. One patient, for example, exclaimed, "I need to know your reactions to me as a person, how you experience me in a relationship." And when a patient expresses concern for the analyst, the analyst is faced with a question: is the patient's concern a genuine gesture of "caretaking?" Does it call for graceful acceptance?