The idea that something may become true simply by being put into words now needs to be taken up in more detail. It represents a clear break with the archeological tradition, which has been, as we have seen, one of the principal organizing themes of psychoanalytic theory and practice. Not only does it mark a new departure; more to the point, the notion of becoming true may even preclude an archeological approach. For once we have chosen a particular construction, we have fixed, in language, the form of the event we are seeking; the words define the object (and frequently the outcome) of our search. The evidence from the past that emerges in the course of our clinical work may be used to confirm our search, but it has fallen under the shadow of our construction, whatever it happens to be. Once we have decided on a particular construction, we see the past in a particular manner. The construction not only shapes the past—it becomes the past in many cases because many critical early experiences are preverbal and, therefore, have no proper designation until we put them into words.