Comparing the results of empirical studies on the efficacy of psychotherapies, Jonathan Shedler asserts that psychodynamic therapy is at least as effective as cognitive behavioural therapy, and shows more enduring benefits. Besides, CBT treatments may be effective in part because they utilize unacknowledged psychodynamic ‘active ingredients’. The common factor allowing talented practitioners of any denomination to achieve successful therapeutic outcomes might well be the affective interaction between therapist and patient, that is, transference. Shedler’s conclusions may contribute to relegitimate psychoanalysis in the field of psychotherapy. They also confirm an enduring therapeutic factor perhaps inscribed within human relations since times immemorial, of which transference would be today’s avatar : a relationship of confidence which implies faith in the therapist’s power.