Abstract
The creative contribution to the psychotherapeutic situation is more likely to be attributed to the authorial (and authoritative!) therapist than to the patient. This obscures the extent to which the therapist is created by the patient in the service of his or her needds. It is only when the therapeutic situation as such is understood as creative for both participants that the creative role of the patient can be appreciated. The party played by the creativity of a patient is illustrated in a therapeutic incident with a traumatized Vietnam veteran.