The analyses of two children and one adolescent were presented to illustrate the concept that the neutrality of the analyst can be used not only to (a) establish a working, analyzing, and observing alliance, (b) permit the development, recognition, and working through of the transference neurosis, but also to (c) develop a sense of autonomy and self—esteem which had been contaminated by the neediness and lack of true empathy of the primary objects during the practicing and rapprochement phases of separation–individuation. For the patients discussed above, many ego functions which should have had a degree of secondary autonomy were either inhibited, enmeshed in conflict, or experienced as nongenuine, part of a "false self." It was as if the experience with the neutral analyst permitted an "autonomous practicing" that had not been possible during the period of separation—individuation.