Therapist and patient face a basic problem, the problem of object need. They wish to regard each other as real objects. The real situation is changed to an 'as if' situation—'you react as if I were …' by interpretation. The therapist imposes a therapeutic barrier and creates a therapeutic task. Object need must first be overcome to establish conditions for transference. An uninterpreted relationship to the therapist is real. Interpretation creates the tension and deprivation