The expectation of pleasure to come is pleasurable itself. In childhood, unconscious expectations arise that childhood wishes will be satisfied in the future. These expectations persist and come to coexist with more realistic expectations of satisfaction. Thus, an illusory aspect enters into plans for and anticipations about the future. Analytic work requires that such illusory elements be revealed and modified. The fear of loss of the pleasure that lies in anticipating that illusions will be gratified in the future, impedes revision of childhood theories during development and motivates resistance in analysis. To deal with illusions tactfully is a technical challenge because deprivation of the satisfactions attending them is painful. This subject merits more emphasis than it has received.

Clinical work and general observation both lead to the conclusion that individuals accommodate to the changing contexts in which they exist, and make efforts to cause these contexts to accommodate to