This work argues that the selection of 12 sessions on a once weekly basis mobilises hope and optimism in psychotherapy patients. It also necessitates dealing with the conscious and unconscious conflicts and meanings surrounding time, termination and separation-individuation. The patient knows precisely when the beginning stages of therapy are over, and where the middle and end are. No other short-term therapy deals specifically with these issues. Much of the theorising on time by Dr Mann is relevant to the termination issues in open-ended long-term psychotherapy and psychoanalysis proper. Margaret Mahler’s writings are also utilised.