Judy Kantrowitz describes her research on the patient-analyst match and the initial rather hostile reception her ideas received. She discusses the sea change in analytic culture that eventually led to greater openness to viewing the analytic relationship as a two-person enterprise. She shows how, while a close match between analyst and patient can be an impediment to progress, this need not always be the case if the analyst can be helped to become aware of it, and the intervention of the external observer may also facilitate growth in the analyst if handled sensitively.