For example: You would find that it is not so simple at all, from the information a patient may volunteer, to draw conclusions as to those of his experiences which he has forgotten, the urges which he once repressed. A patient may tell you something which, at the moment, has just as little sense for you as for him. You will have to make up your mind that the material which the patient lays before you, in accordance with the instruction you gave him, must be interpreted in a special way. Analogous, perhaps, to the treatment iron ore receives for the purpose of extracting from it valuable steel by some special process. In retaining this picture, for the purpose of comparison, you must know that tons and tons of iron ore contain only very little of the valuable steel for which you are looking. This is one reason which would account for the fact that psychoanalytical treatment is such a long drawn-out process. “But how is this ‘iron ore’ to be converted, to apply your comparison once more?” By assuming that the information and ideas of a patient are nothing but distorted pictures of those impressions and experiences you are trying to unearth. Hints, as it were, from which you would have to conclude what is really behind them. To press it into a formula: the information a patient yields, be it memories, ideas or dreams, will have to be interpreted first. This interpretation, of course, must be guided by the expectations you formed of the case on the basis of professional knowledge, while listening to the patient’s recital. “‘Interpretation’! What a dreadful word! I do not like to hear this term because, in applying it, you are depriving me of all confidence. If everything depends on my interpretation, who is going to assure me that my interpretation is correct? Such a state of affairs, according to my mind, simply means that everything is left to fancies and whims.” Just a moment, now! Things are not as bad as all that. Why exclude processes of your own soul from the same rule which you are ready to admit to that of others? Provided you have acquired a certain self-discipline and are in the possession of sufficient information, your interpretations will not be influenced by personal peculiarities, and are bound to prove correct. Do not draw the conclusion from this that it is my opinion that the personality of the analyst does not make any difference, for this phase of the analysis. A certain sensitiveness for that which was unconsciously repressed, is necessary; also an aptness with which everybody is not equally endowed. Most of all, it is here where the absolute necessity for a thorough and searching self-analysis of the analyst is proved, for the purpose of precluding any prejudice that may drag a distorted element into the interpretation.