You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Advancing psycho-analytic theory, especially ego psychology, makes possible the attempt to break down into its components, complex psychological functions earlier regarded as simple unitary expressions of one or other of the three psychic institutions, ego, id, or superego.
A clinical presentation of one form of masochistic
character, the 'comic teasee' or jester type, is used to suggest a new formulation of the general problem of masochistic development. This is conceived not as primarily designed to encompass an unconscious need for punishment or as the expression of an id drive or ego defence, but as a complex configuration for maintaining a balance between primitive aggressive and libidinal drives and at least four specific mechanisms of defence: introjection, denial, reaction formation, and projection. Specific ego-adaptive functions also play a decisive part. The author follows Reich in suggesting that an essentially unmeetable demand for love plus an unusual disposition to anxiety may be the starting point for the ambivalent conflict which develops when this demand is not met.