The author postulates that challenges related to ending an analysis may reflect the fact that the analysis has never truly begun, in the sense of achieving a true analytic engagement, one that can lead to psychic growth. Patients who are unable to achieve an emotional experience thus highlight the problem of interminability as one of how to begin. The author describes the model of reification of experience and presents aspects of the analysis of a perverse patient, the case of Mr. C, to illustrate the usefulness of this model in understanding how this patient defended against experiencing his emotions and the ensuing transference-countertransference difficulties.