This article focuses on how patient and analyst think about the analyst's state of mind. The patient depends on the analyst's internal world and the analyst's capacity to handle strong affect, mistakes, and vulnerabilities. The significance of the analyst's well-being, receptivity, and openness is discussed. It is important that the patient not be put in the position of actually needing to enliven or cure the analyst, living out a repetition of an earlier unhealthy parent–child relationship.