Examines the potential relevance of contemporary psychoanalysis to counseling theory, research, and practice. It is argued that contemporary psychoanalytic theorists increasingly emphasize (a) adaptive processes, or those features of the person that mediate the demands and pressures of both internal and external realities, and (b) social relations, or the influence of important others on developmental processes. To distinguish between theories of the person and the treatment hour, a number of emerging topics relevant to the counseling psychologist are highlighted. In regard to theories of the person, the process of psychological separation, adaptation across the life span, and cognitive processes are discussed. Within the treatment hour, the central role of relationship variables, the role of interpretation and stage processes within brief therapy models, and the need to match personality characteristics to intervention strategies are noted. Contemporary psychoanalytic thought will not hold a central position in counseling psychology until systematic research on psychoanalytic propositions is conducted.