Fürstenau distinguishes two therapeutic traditions: (a) the classical treatment technique for neurotic disturbances, in which the ego is more or less intact, and (b) the more active, supportive procedure, beyond confrontation and interpretation, which is appropriate to structural ego defects and in which the analyst functions as contact agent and auxiliary ego for the patient. The author believes that, in treating patients with structural ego defects, a "praxeological" integration of these two attitudes is optimal for the development of the psychoanalytic process.