In this paper I don't wish to discuss in detail the beginning of analytic treatment. Instead, I will confine myself to considering some transferential and countertransferential elements which I feel are present in all stages of analysis, but which are perhaps particularly meaningful and evident in the opening stage. Recent readings of certain French authors listed in my bibliography have prompted me to make these considerations.

The beginning of analysis is certainly a crucial moment for the analyst because it should make him reflect on the nature and value of the technical instruments which he is about to use with the patient. What meaning, for example, does the analyst give to these instruments, and what meaning does the patient give to them? What effect does the analytic setting, which is part of the analyst's everyday experience, have on the patient who is