Patients who report traumatic encounters actually continue to be in a relationship with their internal object, according to the author, even when their subjective experiences are, paradoxically, of being without someone. This object is described as a timeless, unrepresented, non-symbolic object, not heretofore identified in the psychoanalytic literature. The gaps, perturbations, and “black holes” that analysts describe can be better understood as something unthinkable related to an unsymbolized object, so that the location of trauma is situated within the object relationship. In the author's view, psychoanalysis is uniquely equipped to deal with traumatic disruptions characterized by unrepresented states, unsymbolized objects, and difficulties in symbolizing and becoming a subject. Today, an emergent and essential core concept has taken its place within the mainstream of psychoanalytic theory: It is out of the encounter with the other that we construct a self. In the analytic endeavor, especially in the case of trauma, we reconstruct a self. A more extensive use of the analyst's mind has also gained greater acceptance and is a vital asset in allowing for the analyst's “anticipated” regression, reconstitution, and reconstructive interpretations.