Self psychological and relational models are so complex and well articulated, they have such rich clinical implications that it would be impossible to comment or compare them in any depth in this discussion. Therefore, my comment will deal only with two particular issues that I consider very important in contemporary psychoanalysis: identification and aggressiveness, constructs that are important in both Black's and Tolpin's models and that implicate the analytic stance deriving from their respective theoretical assumptions. I will also comment on something that I consider a very powerful factor in Pickles's case: Ann's birth to a dead mother.