The passing of the dominance of the doctrine of intrapsychic determinism has created a vacuum, leaving behind it a “crisis” in American psychoanalysis. A confusing array of relational concepts and models are emerging in attempts to fill the gap. It is my conviction that, in order to help determine what is transient and what may have enduring value, such attempts should be subject to the same scrupulous deconstructivist efforts as were formerly directed at the classical psychoanalytic model. With this in mind, some hidden assumptions that underlie the model offered in Steven Stern's paper are the focus of examination in my discussion.