When a lie and a subsequent system of self-deception are overlooked in an unconscious collusion between the psychoanalyst and analysand, the analytic work can appear to be progressing, while the continued development of the self-deception ultimately leads to the destruction or collapse of both the analytic work and the growth that was assumed to be present. An expanded version of Bion's Grid that includes the Negative Grid was formulated in an attempt to provide psychoanalysts with a means to contemplate and discuss the development of the lie and system of self-deception. A clinical example is used to show that the lie or field of self-deception is formed in a developmental sequence similar to that of truthful thought but different in the ultimate outcome of its continued development.