ABSTRACT
The notion of therapeutic action does not belong to the concepts that constitute Freudian metapsychology. Freud himself rarely discussed it, although it underlies the entirety of his work. Freud was convinced of the therapeutic effectiveness of psychoanalysis. It is true that his contact with patients suffering from hysteria led him to examine the question of its effectiveness, but he never lost his conviction. In fact, he always sought to sharpen and even alter his theory in the face of disappointing clinical results.
