Given that efficacy and efficiency represent the 'gold standard' now being applied to psychotherapy, it is important to focus on factors that impede progress.These may be summarized under the heading of resistance. A search of the literature yielded relatively little on this topic. The most promising methods and findings were in microanalytic studies of therapy change. The candidates for high yield in future research will be studies that link attachment and loyalty to early 'bad' objects with resistance to interventions in therapy that would otherwise lead to therapeutic change.