Although analytic therapy is based on verbal communication, much that is nonverbal occurs in the course of treatment. Luquet believes that these communications between analysts and patients are similar to the communications between infant and mother, and that the analyst becomes the 'good' object, durable possession of whom is the beginning of the patient's growth and of his ability to shore up his ego. This regressive bond to the analyst must be preserved through the treatment because it furnishes the help needed for meeting constantly changing and anxiety-provoking situations.