Stewart suggests that the term working through be confined to Freud's meaning—what is required of the patient to change his habitual pattern of instinctual discharge—rather than confusing it with activities of the analyst and with other aspects or results of the analytic work. Working through is achieved by overcoming id resistances which consist of psychical inertia and adhesiveness of libido, both independent of neurotic conflict and fixation. For success the patient's maturational forces require sufficient time to overcome the repetition compulsion.

It is unclear how specific factors in patient and analyst, which Stewart maintains influence working through, differ from those affecting the whole course of the analysis and its prognosis.