An "interpersonal" perspective on interpretation is advanced, in which interpretations are viewed as "contact" rather than "content promoting therapeutic agents." The past, in this perspective, is seen as a "structuring element" in the present, and as subjective and contextual, rather than as objective and historical. There is a shift from a "vertical" historical focus to a "horizontal" here-and-now focus of analytic work. Interpretation is effective not so much because of the accuracy of its content as because of its capacity to establish rapport and to provide novel and development-promoting interpersonal experiences. It mediates a dialectical process between analyst and analysand that leads to the creative construction of "a truth [about the past] in the service of self-coherence."