In a study of private theories of pathogenesis and cure, patients in psychoanalysis and their analysts were periodically interviewed. Two cases representing prematurely concluded psychoanalyses are investigated in detail. Double sets of private theories of cure were held by both parties. The wished-for and feared cure involved a profound transformation of the personality by ways of deep regression. An attainable and more limited cure included new ways of managing old problems in terms of coping and cognition, in particular new ways of thinking and reflecting upon interpersonal relationships and inner experiences. Both parties' mourning of the preferred but abandoned utopian theories of cure seems to be an important, even if not frequently observed, ingredient in the psychoanalytic process.