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David Beres presented a resumé of some of Freud's writing, including a historical perspective of the development of the concepts leading to Freud's description of the superego as a definitive component of the psychic structure, taking its rightful place with the id and the ego. As David Beres said, the clinical papers demonstrated many theoretical concepts, and the theoretical papers gave excellent clinical examples.
Although the various panel members focused on certain specific portions of the subject, the general effect was a multifaceted enriched approach to an understanding of the superego. Some of the areas which were considered included: (1) the phenomena associated with the normal development of the superego; (2) the relationships between the superego and the other structural components of the psyche; (3) the role of the superego in the emotional disturbances of childhood; (4) observations on the changes in the superego as the personality of the patient is effected by therapy; (5) sociologic observations on superego phenomena providing a perspective from another discipline.
In the first paper, "Comments on the Factors Which Determine the Constitution of the Superego as a Functional System, " Edith Jacobson focused on the factors actually responsible for the formation of the superego and its relationship to the resolution of the oedipus conflict. She reminded us of Freud's statement that the period of the resolution of the oedipus complex is the time when the instinctual conflicts of the boy come to a dangerous climax. This is the result of the castration anxiety and the sexual renunciation of the incestuous love object which is enforced with a finality that far surpasses the restrictions imposed on the components of the child's pregenital drive.
Edith Jacobson then raised the following question: If the intersystemic