One of the most controversial issues in discussions of how psychoanalytic treatment “works” has been understanding the place and proper influence of the analyst's unique individuality on the process, and, in the terms framed in this paper, on the actual shaping of the patient's mind. This paper suggests that one reason this problem has endured is the absence of a framework for understanding how the analyst, as a unique individual with an inextricable personal mind, is key to the repair of the patient's impaired sense of agency and, as a consequence, the actual reconfiguration of the patient's mind. The paper argues that this personal process is not an unfortunate inevitability, but, like the developmental impact of the unique individuality of parents, represents an essential element, perhaps the core, of what enables real change and growth.