Prospective patients often regard analysis as an 'extremely painful procedure'. Bergler believes that the patient's 'suffering' in analysis is in most cases concomitant with a technical mistake on the part of the analyst. Three instances of alleged torture stand out: the positive transference, which, not being reciprocated, is felt as painful; the discrepancy between the patient's illusions about himself and the analytic explanations of the underlying reasons for them; and waiting for free associations that refuse to come. Most surprising is the fact that