Likierman's paper is an exemplary demonstration of the exquisite attention to the patient's unconscious that is typical of many of the finest analysts, and of British object relationalists in particular. This attention facilitates the analyst's containment and eventually, interpretation, of the disturbing psychic elements, in the classic Kleinian sequence.

Likierman's use of the term intersubjectivity in relation to this process is contrasted with its use in relational theory, where the analyst's active participation is affirmatively stressed along with her more absorbent receptivity. Likierman's own use of Kleinian clinical theory is regarded ambivalently: On one hand, it supports the rigorous pursuit of reflection that is featured in her account; on the other, it carries a tone of severity and unacknowledged self-reproach.