The author discusses the analyst's neutrality as an activity: a constantly moving position and an always-evolving process characterized by the analyst's thinking and curiosity about how to help the patient better know and become himself. The author maintains that neutrality is a cluster concept (Wittgenstein 1953) that includes a number of functions. Recent theoretical shifts regarding neutrality are briefly reviewed, and an illustrative clinical vignette is presented.
Keywords: Anna Freud; Neutrality; Winnicott; activity; analytic theory; depressive position; dreaming; enactment; interpretation; transference-countertransference; unconscious meanings.