Contemporary psychoanalytic approaches to impasses, beautifully illustrated by this paper, have a long and distinguished history, beginning with Freud and continuing through Kohut and beyond. Nebbiosi describes an impasse triggered by his unwelcome explanation of Tano's unsatisfactory relationships with women and intensified by his attempts to comfort Tano by elaborating his explanation in terms of Tano's past. A traditional self psychological approach is contrasted with this example. The recovery from the impasse illustrates a contemporary approach in which the analyst, drawing upon the influence of his mentor, Emmanuel Ghent, movingly deconstructs his own subjectivity and, in so doing, becomes more available to understand his patient's organizing principles. Both analyst and patient acquire greater self-understanding, allowing a creative expansion of intersubjective awareness.