This paper describes several techniques of psychotherapy in which the therapist is active: exaggerating the patient's complaint or problem, the use of sarcasm, and the use of bluntness in evaluating the patient. The author acknowledges that in practice the 'ego-activating' approaches are not used to the exclusion of more traditional approaches. He criticizes the passive technique of classical psychoanalysis, but fails to distinguish clearly between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.