The analytic material from three sequential periods of stress have been examined and compared in an effort to shed light on the complex issues involved in therapeutic growth. It is clear that many components, some known and many unknown, contribute to efficacy in the psychoanalytic setting. Two factors have been teased out from this complex process as demonstrated in the analysis of this latency-age child. Interpretive uncovering and integration were essential to the freeing up of stagnating developmental forces. The regression promoted in the analytic setting, and the clarification of defensive activities, allowed for the rekindling of developmental tasks that had been poorly negotiated. The framework of Mahler's