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Anton Kris discusses the development of his ideas concerning the treatment of punitive unconscious self-criticism. He describes how an earlier adherence to neutrality often left such self-critical attitudes unattended encouraging clinical impasse and failure, particularly with narcissistic patients. He outlines the shift resulting from the introduction of Heinz Kohut’s ‘affirmative attitude’ and how this influenced his own notion of ‘functional neutrality’ when working with patients’ feelings of shame. He further explains his conceptualisation of ‘divergent conflict’ as a means of integrating the vicissitudes of unconscious self-criticism within the classical psychoanalytic framework.