McWilliams's thesis is that "analysts subtly convey two complementary messages that are essential to a therapeutic outcome." Analysts indicate devotion to the patient's welfare, which is experienced as a soothing kind of maternal joining. Analysts

also embody integrity, which is experienced as a stimulating kind of paternal separateness. The maternal type of interpretation holds and soothes the patient while encouraging the patient to attend to painful ideas. The paternal type of intervention confronts the patient as a responsible person capable of accepting painful ideas. These two types of analytic positions are examined in detail, and used to describe therapeutic failures and technical implications in regard to degree of pathology, type of pathology, and interminability of analysis.