Joseph D. Lichtenberg outlines his theory of the five motivational systems involved in the processes of listening, understanding and interpreting in an analytic exchange and explains why he prefers this way of conceptualizing the analytic encounter to thinking in terms of a structural model. He discusses the place of other classical concepts such as defence and resistance in his theory. He gives an example of the phenomenon he has named a disciplined spontaneous engagement and discusses its relationship with the concept of enactment.