Following this presentation, M. Burgner opened the paper to discussion from the floor. S. Abrams expressed his appreciation of the paper and said his own views would in part reflect those of a New York group to which he had belonged for 3 years. He liked the authors' use of the term ‘calling a halt’ and preferred it to ‘termination’. He continued:

S. Abrams: Several kinds of cases have been described. In one we diagnose unconscious intrapsychic conflicts present alongside an otherwise intact ego and self. The technique we choose to use in such instances is the regressive revival of past objects for the purpose of resolution. Once the technique of regressive revival is adopted we may choose to see these patients four or five times a week; in that setting the analytic interaction is characterized by the analyst as an old object; placed upon the analyst are earlier representations. This therapeutic process will terminate when several criteria, which are determined by the nature of that process, are met.