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Abstract
In this paper the proposition is made that repression is one in nature, and the way it functions and the phenomenological differences are the result of the level of organization of the psychic apparatus and not of different types of repression.
When the psychic apparatus is in infantile state, unable to elaborate psychologically the various experiences and therefore more vulnerable to trauma, repression is mobilized by the economic factor in an attempt to protect the ego from further traumatization and contribute to its organization. When the ego leaves behind the state of helplessness and develops its capacity for mastery and anticipation with the establishment of the preconscious, of secondary process, of
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reality testing, of the ability for transformation of energy from free and mobile to bound and tamed, the overall structure of the psychic apparatus and functioning moves to a more advanced level of organization. At this point repression is primarily mobilized by conflictual material and signal anxiety, rather than by overstimulation and the economic factor. Two clinical examples are presented showing the two modes of operation of repression and provide clinical evidence for the proposition.