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This paper considers the problem of annihilation anxiety as a 'test case' to question some polarization tendencies in psychoanalysis. One such polarization, deficit versus conflict, encourages either-or diagnoses, such as narcissistic or neurotic. An alternative scheme is proposed here, a continuum on which most cases are 'mixed' rather than 'pure', and where annihilation concerns along the range are reviewed and documented.
The non-specific dread of the strength of the instincts reactivates what Kohut has called early