Freud first described interpretation as an art (Deutungskunst) and second as work (Deutungsarbeit). In the latter description of the process, he stated that the analyst should catch the drift of the patient's unconscious with his own unconscious. This would suppose from the analyst a sort of regressive reflection which we believe could be described in three phases.

First, an unconscious wish undergoes a topographical change by the transference of its presentation. Second, by the reflexive voice of the scopophilic instinct, the analyst sees himself as the subject and the object of an action suggested in the fantasy. Third, listening to his fantasy, to the wording of it, the analyst hears himself saying something symbolically connected with the analysand's unconscious fantasy. This process would be influenced by a change from a drive to see, to a drive to hear.