Starting from the idea that it is a psychic disorganization, possibly minimal, a crisis, which induces the request for help from another, mother or analyst, the author develops the idea that the request, if it meets with no response, becomes exhausted and makes way for manifestations of a traumatic state. Analysis and interpretations are powerless in the face of these traumatic states or moments. The analyst must find words which lead the patient to recathect the reality of the analytical situation. It is often a question of formulas which, unlike an interpretation, are centred on the patient’s present situation and especially on his emotional situation ; they are as it were “counter-words” put forward to counter the patient’s verbal or behavioural acting out. The author stresses the importance of considering the overall economics of the analysis. The negative therapeutic reaction may then be seen as the result of a quantitative overflow more than of the death drive or some biological rock.