In treating certain adult patients who experienced a significant early loss I have observed a particular phenomenon in which the treatment prompted in the patient a compelling need to search in the external world, find, and symbolically reclaim the lost object. Two cases are presented to demonstrate the phenomenon and the delicate interplay between treatment and external search. It is suggested that in recapturing a concrete and direct aspect of the lost object the patient is filling in missing parts of the internal representation of the object and that this is necessary before the patient can fully mourn the object's loss and, in turn, recapture lost aspects of the self.