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THIS PAPER ADDRESSES THE POTENTIAL presence of therapeutic factors in a non-analytic setting. It developed partly in response to a personal experience, and out of my ongoing interest in the therapeutic function of non-interpretive aspects of psychoanalytic process. This factor, which has been variously described, refers to that dimension of psychoanalysis which involves the analyst's symbolic and actual function as a receiver of the patient's experience. In that capacity, the analyst has been said to provide or to represent an environmental mediator (Spitz, 1956), a background of safety (Sandler, 1960), an extra-uterine matrix (Mahler, 1968) or basic unit (Little, 1981), a protective shield (Khan, 1963), a holding environment (Winnicott, 1965a), (1965b), an emotional container (Bion, 1962) ; (1963) and a transformational object (Bollas, 1987). While some believe that if analysis is to produce change, this non-interpretive factor is always central, others focus on the non-interpretive holding factor in the treatment of only certain patient groups. These include patients needing a regression or suffering from a basic fault (Winnicott, 1965) ; (Balint, 1968), from narcissistic issues (Modell, 1975) ; (1976) or from severe borderline pathology (Slochower, 1992). What unifies these varied models is the critical importance given to the analyst's capacity to receive, hold, and to survive the patient's intense emotional experiences. When the analyst provides this function (which I shall call the holding function), the subjective aspects of analytic process are largely contained within the analyst. Previously, I have described this non-interpretive holding function as it emerges for patients needing