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The evolution of the concept of reconstruction is reviewed. With the growth of ego psychology, reconstructions were decreasingly aimed at specific, real events. Whether or not an event
actually occurred was analytically irrelevant, and/or impossible to determine. The therapeutic effect of reconstruction was inferred to involve the connexion of prior ego states, repeated in the transference, with current modes of functioning and self-representation. Thus, technique needed to be modified as well. This paper discusses the advantages of greater clarity about the issue of specificity and veridicality of a reconstruction.