The psychoanalytic-therapeutic situation is increasingly understood and reflected upon in its bipersonal relational character in current scientific discussions. The long-underestimated contribution of the analyst to the shaping, development, and even blocking of this relationship is coming more into focus. Zwiebel shows that internal processes in the analyst can be influenced and impaired by conflicts and deficits. These contribute to the defensive handling of the analyst in the analytical situation and sometimes condense into a phobic position that blocks the course of therapy and thus the development of the patient.

The book reflects the author's experiences from over 30 years of clinical-psychoanalytic practice. It describes in great detail, with clinical illustrations, the internal workings of the analyst, their various but fundamentally contradictory attitudes, tasks, and functions, as well as the phobic position determined by fears. It culminates in the postulate of an unceasingly necessary processing of the central fear of becoming, being, and remaining a psychoanalyst.