The training to become a psychoanalyst is a lifelong process in which each therapist develops their own working model. This model consists of attitudes and functions that can be partly learned and must be developed in each individual session. Zwiebel describes the qualities required and outlines ten fundamental elements of professional psychotherapy that provide support and orientation for all psychotherapists. Can there be a general theory of psychotherapeutic action? Or: The difficulty of becoming and remaining a psychoanalyst. The process of becoming and staying an analyst primarily involves the development of a unique explanatory model that arises from the dynamics of success and failure. The author details the attitudes and functions required on the part of the analyst.