Symptomatic disorders such as substance abuse, eating disorders, depression, and anxiety states can cause significant life impairment in patients. The author proposed that an optimally responsive, analytically oriented treatment for an individual with symptomatic distress may involve the use of active symptom-focused techniques. Reduction of symptomatic problems strengthens the self and facilitates deeper levels of self-exploration and therapeutic involvement. Techniques originating in behavioral and cognitive-behavioral orientations may be implemented in an analytically informed treatment and adapted accordingly. Current psychoanalytic models such as self psychology and some other relational approaches that emphasize the importance of empathic appreciation of a patient's perspective and optimal responsiveness to the individual can encompass such an integrative approach.