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An attempt was made to understand some aspects of symptom formation, the interplay and dialectic of the defenses which are involved in it.
The formation of phobic symptomatology was studied. The phobic displacement was characterized as a biphasic act. Inhibitory and releasing activities of the ego are prerequisites for the appearance of phobic displacement. This idea suggests that an external perception activates not only anxiety-loaded memory traces but fantasies and drive patterns as well. The phobic anxiety is a response to those drives which are released toward the external perceptions. Such a release is viewed as an unconscious ego activity.