I examine the ways in which Fairbairn's theory can usefully guide clinical interventions in the day-to-day functioning of psychoanalysis. Fairbairn's ideas, neither arcane nor academic, are, rather, alive and relevant for many of our patients. His idea that patients need to progress from infantile dependence to mature interdependence often charts the path that analysis must follow. His concept of the antilibidinal ego reminds us that our patients tend to reject their needy, infantile selves and cautions us against colluding with them in that endeavor. Fairbairn's concept of the closed system and the tie to the bad object helps explain patients' seemingly never-ending self-destructive repetitions and helps us to consider ways of breaching that formidable system. These and other concepts are illustrated in this paper with extensive clinical material.