This paper deals with "affects" and "impasse situations," topics of an analysts' study group at the Milan Institute. The authors present clinical material to describe how scattered and nameless emotions can be included in a shared space and transformed into an experience which one can then begin to tell oneself about. As to impasse situations, the analyst seems to be faced with a conflict between the hermeneutic function and affective participation, between saying something to the patient and being close to him or her.

The authors believe that emotional involvement and the giving of meaning should be considered two inseparable aspects of the analytic function during all periods of