Ego Psychology
School of Psychoanalytic Thought by Ruth L. Munroe.
New York, Dryden Press, 1955
"Investigation of the ego by post-Freudians has taken two general directions,
both of which have their origins in Freud's writings.
of mechanisms of defense.
One carries on the concept
The leader in this direotion has been Anna Freud, whose
small volume The Ego anfl'the Mechanisms of Defence (1936) remains the
exposition of a point of view now very widely adopted among Freudians
pensable to the work of analysis. The other direction has to do with
of the secondary process, the development of those aspects of the ego
clearest
as indis
cxlarificaTtoH
that seem
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to derive from maturation of the reality-adapted aspects of the organism (rational
thought and action, perception, attention, memory, cognition, locomotion, and
the like) and that may be considered conflict-free in essence,'however intimately
they are interwoven with drives {instincts) in the course of living.
The leader
in this direction may be considered Heinz Hartmann, although Kris, Loewenstein,
Kapaport, and many others have been close collaborators or have developed para
llel ideas. The first decisive publication presenting this point of view is
perhaps Hartmann*s
"Ero Psychology nnd the Problem of Adaptation" (1939)" (p. 90).
"Freud himself began the delineation of defense mechanisms, and Freudians had
been aware of the complex disguises assumed by neurotic conflicts long before
the present development of ego psychology. Nevertheless, psychoanalysis
tended to concentrate its attention on the materials of the id and to. envisage
the task of therapy essentially in terms of discovery and release of the repressed
instinctual drives. It was Anna Freud who pointed out most cogently that k the
ego, too, has its archaic forms which are mainily unconscious and which are
deeply involved k in the transformations of drives actually operating tM^the
personality. Moreover, the instinctual drives are subject to observation by
the analyst or patient only via their representations in the ego, and these are
always more or less well organized in terms of the mechanisms of defense estab
lished by theego" (p. 91).
"It should be emphasized that concern with the ego has not replaced the libido
theory for the Freudian schools. The castration complex, for example, seems as
'nuclear' in Anna Freud's writings as in Freud's, although in the cases she describes
it rarely appears as the direct explanation of the presenting symptoms. Aggressive
behavior may be a manifestation of the aggressive instinct, but it aoqc also may
be a device of the ego—as, for example, when a child identified with an authority
which he sees as aggressive (with or without justification) and in this manner
xxxkkxbxx merely"borrows" the aggression, as it were, from the external model as
a defensive measure1? (p. 92)
i
"There are many such devices (ego mechanisms) which may or may not become consoli
dated into the defense mechanisms of the adult personality. Nevertheless, the
distinction between id impulses and ego devices must be maintained, and the pre
dominant dynamics of the behavior patterns observed by the analyst must be
considered. Behavior may be a part of an ego mechanism or a manifestation of the
id. It cannot be diagnosed simply as behavior, at a phenomenological level, but
must be understood in its origins and current significance. For Anna Freud, the
basic theory of instincts and their successive levels of organization in the
early years of childhood is not greatly different from Freud's formulation" (p.- 93).
"S,
"The autonomous functions of the ego: Hartmann. The classicial Freudian position
_/
tends to assume that hhn»h.^mh*^,mritw«lma»kimm!im9i^mimRm*mmkmmm»mm^m9MUmmii ±a
derived from instinctual drives and that the independent function of the ego
arises out of the necessary conflicts among drives within the organism and
/
•
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
,!
is thought of as drive-connected.
instinctual drive against another
It 'borrows' its drives and plays off one
Freud repeatly writes of the ego functions
(Hartmann calls them apparatuses)—the sensorium, motility, memory, imagination,
and the like—wherefeby the ego accomplishes this necessary operationCi.e., learning
to tolerate delay in instinctual gratification and learning to give up one
gratification in order to enjoy anothelj! (p. 95).
"Beginning with....,Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation' (1939), Heinz
Hartmann attacks the problem of ego psychology with especial vigor.
His synthesis
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included not only the new achievements of Freud's instinct theory, the structural
approach, and the concept of defense, but also concepts from academic psychology.
Hartmann urges that the initial matrix of psychic development be envisaged as
not simply the id but the whole gamut of bodily structures, among which must be
counted the apparatuses of the ego described above. Thgse have a primary autonomy
—that is, they function independently in their own right. They are the conse
quence* of the evolution of the human species quite as definitely as the organ
systems underlying the libidinal drives. The human being is born with a
kind of preadaptedness to the average conditions of biological existence for
this species, which includes the sensorimotor and regulatory apparatuses generally
necessary for survival, as well as the vegetative systems. There is no special
instinct of self-preservation—in fact, very little prefigured response to specific
aspects of the environment such as one finds in many of the lower animals.
•Yet on the xkkxk average the whole ensemble of drives, ego-functions, egoapparatuses, and the principle of regulation, as they meet the average expectable
environmental conditions, do have survival BmamxtxaoB value'" (p. 96).
"The functioning of the ego apparatuses is initially, for Hartmann, therefore,
conflict-free. Furthermore, their functioning seems to be subjectively exper
ienced as a 'pleasure' in its own right. Hartmann writes: 'The pleasure possi
bilities of the apparatuses of the conflict-free eg^sphere seem to play a very
significant role in the adaptation to the external world.' The child spontaneously
exercises his limbs and his sense organs, is attentive to objects, remembers, etc.
All this is as much a part of his being as his spontaneous activity and pleasure
in the * erotogenic zones, at birth and during the period of maturation" (p. 96).
f
"To some extent, these auftomous apparatuses develop integrations of their own. But
to some extent they become instrumental in the infant's handling of other aspects
oi his organismic needs—the instinctual drives. From the moment when the infafcT
learnatto anticipate the breafcfor bottle; to cease crying when it appears; to turn
toward it adaptively; above all, to develop a hallucinatory image of the object
in its absence; a new aspect of ego development has set in. Or we may say that,
at the moment when the infant cries not purely as an expression of distress
but with some notion, however crudely associative, of the cry as a preliminary of
relief, the sensorimotor apparatus has begun to be drive-connected (eathected).
From this point on, the ego apparatuses become closely involved with the drives.
although they retain a certain autonomy peculiar to themselves.
"In this manner, patterns of behavior typioally develop which have what Hartmann
causa secondary autonomy. The fragmentary, primitive connections of the ego
appartuses with the drive states become organized as complex integrated reac
tions patterns, organized in various ways. [Anna Freud: 'Efeo interests, qualities
and attitudes become independent of the instinctual tendencies, or the defense
mechanisms against instinctual tendencies, from which they have arises.... •
Hartmann: 'Beacti«€ character formation, originating in defense against the drives,
may gradually take over a host of other functions in the ego' and continue to
exist long after its function as a defense mechanism has ceased to be important! •
In his drive-connected relations with his parents and other significant adults.J *
STti?fini deve}°P« tyPes oi" behavior which then become important in themselves. ;
He walks not only for fun but also for the increment of adult love that iSsView
*
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
-3-
accomplishment calls forth. He masters* the art of eating tidily and maintaining
bowel control not only by virture of his greater ^capacity for coordination
but also in order to avoid the pain of parental disfavor. New patterns of behavior
are thus built up in close relation to fch his instinctual trends and to the atti
tude of the parents toward them. Behavior patterns so established tend to be
perpetuated beyond the situation which gave rise to them and to become elaborated
in their own right, *hus, the habit of cleanliness, with a fear of any break
in careful control, develops a secondary autonomy extending far beyond the
tdursery. It is 'neutralized.'" (pp. 96-9g).
"It is not easy for a child to f<su»o defecating as he pleases in favor of a regime
set by his parents, to eat 'properly' when he k is very hungry of when he is so
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little hungry that he would like to experiment with all sorts of new manipu
latory and social techniques. In even the best-regulated household, such situa
tions are conflict-laden for child. They require complex organizations of behav
ior, with varying relationships between the autonomously developing patterns of
the ego apparatuses and the instinctual drives to which they are necessarily con
nected. Hartmann's point is that organizational units constantly arise in the
course of development which then tend to function autonomously.xxxtxaixxaxxx
They arise in intimate connection with drive states. Although they employ ego
apparatuses which tend to develop autonomously in their own right (primary
autonomy), they have a special organization important in -itfa own right. Above
all, Hartmann's point is that a drive state arising from inner tensions, as in
the spontaneous development of the sexual instinctual drives, may 'trigger'
a complex ego organization in much the same way as an external stimulus. These
egouorganizaations, however, may also be used as units in reactions which are
essentially drive=connected" (p. 93).
~~~ *
"One way in which such an organizationlaf secondary autonomylis used ia for greater
mastery or reality. Knowing the right Tbrk may be an unfortunately trivial
example of 'mastery,• but the reality value of this knowledge in many social
situations is clear. A second way is the expression £ of a drive conflict
through the later patterns, as when the persom under stress clings absurdly to
the social rituals of good manners or, conversely, deliberately breaks them in*
a spirit of defiance. A third way in which thse organizations may be used is as
signals of mounting inner tension. Small brekks and discomforts within the complex
pattern alert the ego to dangers from within, so that new alignments of the deiense maneuvers may be made far short of direct expression of instinctual drives
which might be devastating to the general maintenance of the personality? (p. 99).
"....comparatively little is said about the over-all synthesis mediated by the
ego. To be blunt, there is very little talk about 'self• as an operating entity
in any brdnd of 'Freudian' literature. This statement may sound like a critical
comment, but I think it may be considered essentially an item of reporting. Freud
u * FJeudians» especially the ego psychologists, show how the 'self' comes
about. They deal with it in practice as any good therapist would. But they seem
to have become so busy avoiding naive ideas of the 'self' in favor of studying
the major » contours of its development and its major functions that they have
neglected the tremendous power of the synthesis performed by the ego. We must
still look mainly to non-libido schools, especially to Homey, for careful dis
cission of the importance of attitudes toward thepelf" (pp. 102-103).
"...there can be little doubt that the develpments in ego psychology represent
the mainstream of progress in Freudian psychoanalysis. They offer a ready frame
work for integration of the findings of the non-libido psychoanalytic schools;
they supply an approach to those pressing problems which repeatedly led to the
radically new theories when Freud seemed to be moving too slowly or to be actively :,
fSf"6 thQ Pf01*?"- Finally they codify maneuvers every psychoanalyst has beten
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
-4-
Cameron, Norman.
Boston:
Personality development and psychopathology: a dynamic approach.
Houghton-Mifflin Co., 19bj
"In psychodyanmic theory, attention has been focused upob the prime Importance
of delay, frustration and conflict in stimulating ego development, and particu
larly the development of secondary process thinking. One^result of this has
been a relative neglect of the role played by the maturaf^equences of adaptive
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behavior. The early perceptual-motor coordinations...are obvious examples of
progressive adaptation to the realities of the surroundings and of the body's
structures:. This kind of adaptation depends mainly upon maturation, use and
learning, with little evidence of the influence of delay, frustration and conflict.
Such perceptual-motor organizations—-and they are innumerable—make up what is
called the auffiomous ego. Because they are not necessarily products of con
flict, and do not seem a to involve conflict in their operation, they have been
grouped together as the conflict-free sphere of the ego.
"The autonomous ego and the conflict-free sphere include the well-known maturational sequences of motor coordinations, the development of perception of the
body and of the surrounding world, the maturation of emotional and motivational
components, and the growth of the cognitive structures which make all kinds of
secondary integration and abstraction possible.
They also include x all the
unnoticed preconscious processes that contribute to our orientation and to out
automatic skilled activities in everyday life. Examples of these are the use
we make of the perceived enavironment all the time in orienting ourselves, without
noticing it, the myriad coordinated movements a that make up our everyday work,
play and relaxation, and even the uetails of our ordinary problem-solving.
In
short the autonomous ego and the conflict-free sphere include most of what con
stitutes the subject matter of psychology and the other behavioral sciences.
"Many of these things are learned at first with conscious effort, even though the
details of the learning may not themselves enter into awareness.
Conscious
effort may again be needed to improve them. But once mastered, most of them
remain automatic, smooth-running and unnoticed throughout life. In fact, ease
and skill often dependent upon one's remaining unaware of the details of percep
tion, cognitiontana action. The typist or pianist who, for any reason, becomes
aware of the individual movements that go to make up the skilled performance is
likely to lose ease and skill.
"A previously,autonomous, conflict-free function may be dragged into symptom
formation. This we..see with special clarity in conversion symptoms and compul
sions. In some of the psychoses, for example in manic excitements, there may be
little autonomous ego organization left} almost all behavior and experience seems
to have regressed in the service of a childlike, previously unconscious oeo"
(pp. 177-178).
By now it is clear that ego adapatation involves more than a pj?sive adjustment or
conformity. Adjusting to and conforming with the realities of
one's environment are essennttial parts of ego adaptation. But
prise and mastery, which may reshape the environment, are also
of normal ego adaptation. They arifSomponents most vulnerable
one's body and
intiative, enter
essential components
in ohildhood to
adult interference and domination.
"We see mastery develop even in the nursing situation; we see it in the continual
perceptual-motor explorations of early infancy; we see it in the mastery of space
and locomotion that comes as soon as a child can get to his feet alone. Ego
adaptation, maturation and mastery together form rising spirals. As a child
matures, he increases the effectiveness of his ego adaptation; as he adapts and •
masters more and more, he matures faster; and as he matures further, his ego
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
-5-
adaptations and mastery take on new dimensions and new complexities The «»tiScations that once came only with direct discharge now come from the Pf^""™
of the complex maneuvers itself. The end may become less p^ata important than
^
the way in which it is achieved. This is obvious in children's play and in
many adult rituals.
"In manv activities and many imaginings both children and adults often seek an
increase in tension and effort. In play and recreation we seek tension and effort
that~goes far beyond what is necessary for mere adaptation. Children and adults
come to enjoy the build-up and the energetic use of something which they have
"femiregnu?cUoS&^rSoften difficult to differentiate between adapta
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mastered" (p. 178).
tion and defense.
For example, the overall ego defense against disintegra
tion is at the same time adaptive in character. As we shall see....this is one
of the major functions of regression, that it permits the ego systems to remain
organized, even though at less competent levels
'"
"The newborn..remains for some time unreactive to most of the potential stimula
tion in his environment. Freud postulated the existence of an inborn protective
barrier, the forerunner of ego defenses
the newborn is also protected by
the rudimentary state of his perception, the physiological Immaturity of his
brain, and the poverty of his repertory of coordinated movements. Most of
the complex perceptual patterns that the human environment arouses in adults do
/not exist for the neonate.
They make no demand upon him whataatever. He is
[defended by a shell of perceptual inadequacy which protects him from even having
to try to perform the coordinated acts of which he is incapable.
"We adults are also familiar with the use of a protective barrier when we are
bombarded by stimulation and do not react to it. Our ability to daydream or
read in the midst of extraneous activity depends upon our erecting a barrier of
ttnreactivity. Whenever we become deeply engrossed in doing something, we exper
ience the same kind of oblivion toward anything that might interfere with it.
We do the same kind of thing in falling asleep and staying asleep in noisy sur
roundings .
"Ego adaptive systems also involve defense in that they must automatically
exclude anything That might disrupt them. This is an ego defensive function
which protects its own organization, one that enables it to persist as a system.
Thus, for example, ego systems must not only adapt to external and somatic reali
ties; they must also defend their organization from the disintegrating effects
of the impact of too much reality. This defense becomes most evident when it
breaks down, as it does in many traumatic experiences, in panic reactions, and
in some of the psychoses.
"Ego systems adapt to unconscious strivings add defend against them.
They find
ways of discharging tensions, sometimes through the use of their own versions
of primary process displacement, condensation and primitive symbolization, much
like what we see in manifest dreams and in neurotic symptoms.
Ego systems also
bind i4 cathexes <*sxfr in secondary process organizations, as in normal thinking,
problem-solving and realistic imagining.
"An ego function which is especially significant in psychopathology is both adap
tive and defensive.
This consists of depriving id-derivatives of their primitive
sexual and aggressive cathexes. The function is known as neutralization and its
products are called neutral or neutralized energy. These terms do not implythat
neutralized energy is any less energetic" but only that it has been desexualized
or de-aggressivized.
Desexuallzatlon is best represented by sublimation. Sex
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
-6-
/•**
drives or their derivatives are used in nonsexual ways that achieve complete
satisfaction. De-aggressivization (a monstrous word) takes many forms. Initia
tive, enterpriseTna regulated competition are all common * expressions of
primitive aggression that has been tamed by ego action, and is available for
activities which may be energetically constructive or creative. Ego defeases,
such as repression, use deaggressivized energy derived from the id.
"The use of id cathexes to form ego systems which then serve to control id
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cathexes sounds more paradoxical than it is. It is actually no stranger than
the use of water power to construct and maintain a dam,- whose function is that of
holding the water back, and which may thus be tamed and channeled into other
activities (running a mill or a dynamo) which are not aquatic in character at all.
"Finally, preconscious ego systems must adapt continually to superego guidance,
especially in moral and ethical matters. They also defend against superego
pressures when these become too intense or too disturbing to preconscious ego
functions.
Some common results of these pressures are the paj^s_g£_conscience,
which may become conscious, and the sense of jwrthlessness or inferiority, which
also become conscious, but have unconscious superreo roots. Unconscious guilt
also belongs here
" (p?. 179-1^0).
"The psychology of caricature"tin P^jghoanalytic Explorations in Art by Ernst
Kris.
Mew York:
Internat. Univ. Press, 3'95^-
n
in dreams, the ego abandons its supremacy and the primary process obtains
control, whereas in wit and in caricature this process remains in the service
of the ego. This formulation alone suffices to show that the problem involved
is a more xgeneral one; the contrast between an ego overwhelmed by regression
and a 'regression in the service of the ego'—si licet venia verba
coavers
a vast and imposing range of mental experience.
"There are numerous conditions, extending from the levels of normal life deep
down into the realm of the pathological, in which the ego abandons its supremacy;
besides dreams, we find, not far removed from the norm, states of intoxication,
in which the adult a?ain becomes a child and recovers 'the right to ignore the
limitations imposed by the demands of logic and to give free rein to his imagina
tion1 (Freud), or again, the multiplicity of well-known clinical pictures in
neurosis and psychosis. The economic aspect of some of these processes suggests
a formulation which we will mention here for the sake of its connection with
certain consideration*later to be adduced: it seems that the ego finds its
supremacy curtailed whenever it is overwhelmed by affects, irrespective of
whether an excess of affect or the ego's own weakness is to be held responsible
for the process.
"But the opposite case, where the ego enrolls the primary process in its service
and makes use of it for its purposes, is also of the widest signifioance. It
is not confined to thea» sphere of wit and caricature but extends to the vast
domain of aesthetic expression in general*,and"that it applies to the whole
field of art and of symbol formation, preconscious or unconscious, which, begin
ning TJith cult and ritual, permeates the whole of human life.
"The primary process, the operation of which, in Freud's view, conditions the
uniform character of primitive modes of expression, is not merely of decisive
importance for the thought processes of primitive peoples but appears also to
determine the evolution of the 'grammar' and 'syntax' employed in those of
the child" (p. 177).
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
-7-
1"....the primary process controls graphic expression in the child, whereas it
appears in the pictorial art of the civilized adult as a freely and deliberately
chosen technique" (p. 173).
perhaps
"On inspiration" Ch. 1.3;
"We are/thus justified in saying that the inspired
leadership of primitive society consists of individuals who are distinguished
I among other qualities which do not enater into the framework of our present
deliberation by a certain disposition to communicate with the repressed wishes
and fantasies in themselves by use of special mechanisms. These mechanisms
are in the nature of projection and introjection. What comes from inside is
believed to come from without.
The 'voice of the unconscious' is externalized
of inspiration, but not the whole of it.
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and becomes the voice of God, who speaks through the mouth of the chosen. This
process of exteraalization constitutes one decisive element of the phenomenon
The knowledge which the voice communi
cates is not only derived from God, but literally given by him. The awareness
itself is a result of inspiration as well as a part of it, and thus the driving
of the unconscious toward consciousness, the process of becoming conscious, is
attributed to the influence of the lAvine. In other words, an alteration of
cathexis inside the person, the bursting of the frontiers between the unconscious
and the conscious, is experienced as an intrusion from without. We may there
fore say that the conception of inspiration is connected with two emotional exper
iences. Though they are intimately interwoven with each other and may, therefore,
not always be distinguished by the individual himself, they may be separated here
lor the sake of our presentation: in the concept of inspiration impulses, wishes
and fantasies derived from the unconscious are attributed to a supernatural being
and the process of their becoming conscious is experienced as an action of this
being upon the subject, and thus activity is turned into passivity" (pp. 293-294).
"The work of the xmind in research and discovery does notm consist only in a
continuous application u> the quest for a solution.
A part of the work is done
in preconscious elaboration, the result of which comes into consciousness in
sudden advances. It is almost always possible to find traces of an interrelation
between some external stimuli and this preconscious process
/"Some of the greatest scientific discoveries are attributed to chance by the dis-
|coverers themselves
A closer analysis of such cases... .has., .proved beyond
all doubt that what appears to be chance is in fact an observation impregnated
jwith previous preconscious experiences. The making of the observation is in
jitself" a part of the preconscious process" (p. 296).
"Scientific thinking is in itself never sharply separated from the realm of the
unconscious, andtiie psychoanalysis oi' inventors and research workers shows that
there is an intimate connection between these higher mental functions and uncon
scious wishes and desires and their infantile roots. This argument concerning
the id aspect of scientific thought may be supplemented by another which
might be called the superego x aspect. Any research or discovery may, in some
sense, be an attempt to trespass across established boundaries and thus be related
to infantile situations in which such attributes were forbidden and dangerous.
But a third argument may still be added; it concerns the aspect of ego psychology.
The working of our mind in productive thinking is, as we have said, not based
on steady application only. It is most probably connected with changes of cathexis
which may take the character of sudden, asxx it were eruptive, process. The
part attributed to chance would then properly be described as rationalization.
But this description is true only in a somewhat superficial sense. It does not
take into account one further element: that of the excitement sometimes connected
with productive thinking, even if that excitement is less noticeable than with
any other sort of creative activity. Such excitement is of a libidinal nature,
evidence is easily accessible in so far as 'normal' conditions of creative
activity are concerned1! (p. 297).
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
[
-8-
"On preconscious mental processes." Ch. 14; "The reciprocal relationship be
tween the development of ego psychology and therapeutic technique has not only
led to an increased concern with the 'psychic surface' and many details of
behavior, but also to specific advice as to the handling of the relationship
of preconscious to unconscious material in therapy, advice that is sometimes
too rigidly formulated, and yet axa eminently important. Briefly stated,
this advice is to wait until what you wish to interpret is close to conscious
"Many of Freud's views on preconscious mental processes are contained in writings
(191531917) In which he discusses functions ± of the system Pes, later attributed
to the ego. In sharp contrast to these early formulations stands Freud's later
consideration of 'preconscious' merely as a 'mental quality*. •
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ness, until it is preconscious (Freud, 1939)" (p. 303).
"In defining the quality of the preconscious, Freud follows Breuer:
preconscious
is what is 'capable of becoming conscious,' and he adds, 'capable of becoming
conscious easily and under conditions which frequently, arise.' It is different
from unconscious processes 'in the case of which such a transformation is difficulty
can only come about with considerable expenditure of energy or may never occur'.
However, this general differentation is a somewhat simplified rendering of
complex problems
"First, not all preconscious processes reach consciousness with equal ease. Some
can only be recaptured with considerable effort. What differences exist between
the former and the latter?
"Second, preconscious mental processes are extremely diff±erent from each other
both in content and in the kind of thought processes used; they cover continua
reaching from purposeful reflection to fantasy, and from logic formulation to
dream-like imagery. How can these differences be accounted for?
"Third, when preconscious material emerges into consciousness the reaction
varies greatly. The process may not be noticed—the usual reaction if the pre
conscious process is readily available to consciousness. But emergence into con
sciousness can be accompanied by strong emotional reactions. How may we account
for these reactions?" (p. J0*,*305).
"The difference between preconscious and unconscious mental processes, however,
. is explained by assumptions concerning the nature of the prevalent psychic
j energy: unconscious processes use mobile psychic energy; preconscious processes
bound energy. The two degrees of mobility correspond to twoxx types of discharge
characterized as the primary and the secondary processes* We are thai faced
with the delimitation between the id and the ego. Note that two sets of assurap•>
tions are here suggested by Freud (the types of energy, free and bound, and the
types of discharge, the primary and secondary process) to account for the same
events; the formulations in terms of energy permits differentiation in degree,
in shading; the formulation in terms of process states.extremes. Hypotheses of
transitions between extremes seem to sj£ to Hartmann, and.,.to Rapaport, preferable11
(pp. 305-306).
"The assumption that the ego directs countercathexes agjnst the id is essential
to any study of preconscious mental processes; also essential is the assumption
that a preconscious a process from which the ego withdraws cathexis becomes
subject to cathexis with id (mobile) energy and i will be drawn into the primary
process (the basic assumption of the psychoanalytic theory of dream formation).
The reverse (unconscious material becomes preconscious) occurs when id deriva
tives are cathected with ego energy and become part of preconscious mental
processes at a considerable distance from the original impulse.
They may do
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
-9-
so if changes in the distribution of countercathexis have taken place, e.g.,
if the level of conflict has been reduced and the id impulse has become more
/*N
acceptable; also, they may sometimes enter preconscious mental processes at a
considerable price in terms of symptoms. Id contents may also reach conscious
ness without ever becoming preconscious. Metaphorically speaking, they may
become accessible to the ego not from within but from without. They then appear
as percepts, acquiring at once, as it were, the hypercathexis required for con
sciousness. This is an abnormal (or rare) pathway to consciousness, the pathway
of hallucination. We considexfLt by contrast as normal when preconscious material
reaches consciousness by a further increase in cathexis, the hypercathexis xxxxat
effective without considerable effort.
This is the reason why we assume the
working at the passage into consciousness—of counter-cathectic energies that
would prevent what is, to some extent, ego-dystonic from entering full awareness
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mediated by attention. In some cases, however, this hypercathexis cannot become
(px. 306).
"The suggestion that historical interpretations in analysis stimulate memory
to recognition leadins to recall is in accord with experimental findings. These
experiments show how recognition laaiilx&jdtoxxaxaxx improves recall or guarantees retention.
The theoretical, psychoanalytic explanation of the relationship
between recognition and recall is that the synthetic function of the ego, estab
lishing a context, is in the x case of recognition facilitated by the help of
perception (in our example, the analyst's interpretation). Recall then fills
a gap, fits x into a pattern" (p. 309).
"The relation of recognition to recall x of the repressed can be tentatively
J.• i pattern indicated by the reconstruction; this in turn strengthens the ego's
described in these terms:
since the 'original' situation has been recognized,
previously not sufficiently invested id derivatives can be integrated into the
' I position, permits a reduction/* eountercathexes and the gradual infiltration
of further material
a result in the end not dissimilar to sudden recall, in cases
in which the interpretation has led to the spectacular revival of repressed
traumata. In both types of cases the full investment of the ego, the syntonicity
of the event with superego and id strivings may then lead to the feeling of
certainty, to the change from fI know of to 'I believe.'" (pp. 309-310).
"Unpublished experimental investigations show that, when asked to report their
daydreams, college students record a variety of phenomena that represent what
might be called the 'stream of preconsciousness' in highly varied expressions
of highly varied contents. These are the impression that justify my introductory
remarks on the existence of two atfciawa continua, one reaching from logical
cohesive verbal statements to dreamlike imagery. Both continua, I believe, occur
with some frequency in preconscious mental processes" (pp. 310-311).
"Topographically, ego regression...occurs not only when the ego is weak—in
vsleep, iXalling asleep, in fantasy, in Intoxication, and in the psychoses—but
also durihg many types of creative processes. This suggested to me years ago that
the ego may use the primary process and not be overwhelmed by it
{
However,
the problem of ego regression during creative processes represents only a special
problem in a more general area. The general assumption is that under certain
conditions the ego regulates regression, and that the integrative functions of
the ego include vxoluntary and temporary withdrawal of cathexis from one area or
another to regain improved control." (p. 312).
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.
-10-
"The automatic functions of the ep;o are commonly considered to include a special
kind of preconscious process which become conscious only in the x case of
r^
danger or under other special requirements (Hartmann, 1939)|jjsg0 psychology
and the problem of adpatationj. Consciousness in these instances is no guaran
tee of improved function; on the contrary, automatic (habit) responses in driving
automobiles or the use of tools, for instance, seem to have undoubted advantages.
Similarly, the shift from consciousness to preconsciousness may account for the
experience of clarification that occurs when after intense concentration the
solution a* to an insoluble problem suddenly presents itself following a period
Briefly, we suggest that the hypercathexis' of preconscious mental
activity with some qpxaxxfcxxBxx quantity of energy withdrawn from the object
world to the ego—from the system PcptBereeptiorl to preconscious thinking
accounts for some of the extraordinary achievements of mentation (pp. 313-314).
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of rest.
"To returnxtx. ...to the...question ofxaxxxik reactions to the reaching of aware
ness of preconscious thought processes, let me repeat that normally there is
an absence of reactions. In many instances of bohh fantasy and creativity, dis
charge and satisfaction can be experienced. The mere feeling of relief is more
manifest in iantasy, a mixture of relief and satisfaction more evident in
creativity and solving problems. But there are instances in which these same
experiences appear in a special form, in which the feeling exists that aware
ness comes from the outside world. This is obviously true of hallucinations,
but it is also true of revelation orm inspiration" (p. 310^317).
'. "We believe that in the process of becoming conscious the preconsciously prepared
thought is sexualizea, which accounts for the experiences accompanying revelation.
Id energies suddenly combine with ego energies, mobile with bound and neutralized
cathexes, to produce the unique experience of inspiration which is felt to
reach consciousness from the outside
Thw feeling of triumph and release
/•N
from tension remind the individual of a phase in his development in which
I
I
passivity was a precondition of total gratification, and in which the hallucinated
wish fulfillment became reality: the period of nursing
"This relationship between creativity and passivity exemplifies once more one of
the leading theses of this presentation: the integrative functions of the ego
include self-regulated regression and permit a combination of the most daring
intellectual activity with the experience if passive receptivenoss" (pp. 317-318)
Excerpt of Munroe, R. L., 1955 : Schools of Psychoanalytic Thought. An Exposition, Critique and Attempt at Integration,
New York (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) 1955, p. 349-354. 386-398.