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I am proposing that the process of apology between the analytic couple, when it is not reflexive or coerced, is a transitional phenomenon (Winnicott, 1951/1971), in and of itself, and essential to moving both the patient (for the first time) and the analyst (in each and every moment or session) from the paranoid/schizoid position into the depressive position. This paper examines what I am calling the “frozen moments” that patients bring into analysis, which catapult the analytic couple into the paranoid/schizoid position (the heart of the trauma), and the prerequisites that must be in place within the analyst in order for “apology” to be used as a transitional phenomenon into the depressive position. This movement is accomplished when the analyst is able through his state of “innocence” (Grotstein, 2000) — he has freed himself of his own excessive guilt and annihilation anxieties — to stand in for the one whom the patient deems responsible for his suffering and apologize for the original trauma that is now being experienced within the current analysis. Without the recognition of these essential elements — frozen moments within the internal “freezer” of the patient, the prerequisite state of innocence within the analyst, and apology as a process (not a one-liner) and transitional phenomenon — there can be a risk of impasse, premature termination, and acting out on the part of both analyst and patient.