The pluralism in models of development, pathogenesis, and technique and the expansion of the applicability of treatment that characterizes the current psychoanalytic scene further erode the traditional criteria for psychoanalysis and the long-standing but increasingly fragile distinction between psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The purpose of this article is to delineate general features of the psychoanalytic process that are more encompassing of contemporary theoretical models and to use these features as criteria to explore if a meaningful distinction can be made between psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Following a brief historical review of the literature, I reassess on the basis of theory, research, and practice the so-called extrinsic and intrinsic criteria for psychoanalysis, and I conclude, from today's perspective, that a meaningful distinction with psychoanalytic psychotherapy cannot be made. I then arrive at what, in my view, are the fundamental features of the psychoanalytic process that can include all psychoanalytic approaches.