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ABSTRACT. In this paper we comment briefly on the cont~butio ~ to this journal issue. We also make the following observations regarding the current status of psychoanalysis: (a) As in the past, for the most part, recent psychoanalytic formulations are essentially rich and interesting hypotheses, with little systematic validation; (6) the recent psychoanalytic literature is preo~~up~d with b~~rl~ne and n~rciss~tic condition; fc) empathy and the ther~p~tic re~tio~hip are held to be the essential curative factors in p~cho~~~lytic p~choth~a~; (d) early mother-child interactions are heavily emphasized in etiological hypotheses; and (e) pre-Oedipal factors and object relations play an increasing role in theories of psychopathology and of psychological development. The paper by Luborsky and his colleagues deals with the transference which they refer to as “Freud’s grandest clinical hypothesis. ” The paper picks up on a challenge presented by Grunbaum (1980, 1982) who argues that data from the clinical psy-choanalytic situation cannot be employed probatively for Freud’s grandest psy-choanalytic hypotheses. Luborsky et al. then proceed to attempt to refute Grunbaum’s claims by demonstrating correspondence between Freud’s (19 12, 1957) observa