Some essential aspects or the role of support in psychoanalysis are summarized. This is illustrated with clinical material. It is shown that support consists essentially in accepting an illusion created by the patient and postponing disillusion. Other important aspects relate to holding the infantile, coping with the aggressive and developing the adult sides of the patient. Support is the gratification of pre-oedipal needs in a psychoanalytic setting by a therapist who safeguards the limits of his or her professional role.