Engagement is intricately woven into the fabric of development and the fabric of psychoanalysis. However, there has been little effort to describe the process and essence of therapeutic engagement itself, or closely consider its effects. We propose that engagement with others occurs under highly specific circumstances. We identify three conditions: 1) a core positive affective investment; 2) prioritization; and 3) continuity. When these conditions are conjoined in the context of certain relational parameters, they can initiate a process that catalyzes the development of the mental, affective, and social capacities fostered in relationships. Through this process, a “charged other” emerges, a person who holds increased positive value (though not consistently positive affect), with whom this catalyzing of capacities becomes possible.