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The causes of the European war in so far as they were psychological have not yet been worked out or formulated.
The war must be regarded as a proof of man's failure to establish a stable and secure civilization. Post-war social organization has been distinguished by the disruption of many forms of social activity, and the growth of at least two interests. The first is a rapid increase in mechanization and its application to many branches of culture; the second is a growing interest in psychology, and the birth of many different methods of approach to the study of the mind; scientific, utilitarian, mystical, and esoteric.
Mechanization as an aim in itself can be shown to be a sign of the inability of mankind to deal with anxiety associated with the wish to control primitive instinct impulses.
The widespread interest in the mind is dictated mainly by two drives; the first is a desire to deny the importance of the body, and in this way settle the problems of the sexual and aggressive instincts, and the fear of death; the second is a recognition that the control and regulation of primitive impulses can only be adequately obtained, if at all, through a deep knowledge of the psychical aspect of their activities.
Different forms of psychotherapy reveal tendencies derived from both determinants.
Psychotherapy can be regarded as an off-spring of primitive magic in so far as the latter was the first acknowledged attempt at mental therapy, and depended for success on the power to assuage anxiety. Modern methods can be divided into those which are successful by reanimating and exploiting infantile situations in which reassurance is obtained by a relief in omnipotence, and those which aim at increasing the sense of reality. A definition of the sense of reality must include the recognition of psychical reality, and give due weight to the relationship between the two. The early stages of ego development and the sense of reality are as much concerned with the realization (acceptanc