This volume is the third published by the American Psychoanalytical Association. The first, a now classical volume by Hartmann, Ego psychology and the problem of adaptation, was followed by Edith Jacobson's The self and the object world. They promised well for the series.

The present volume examines two theories, both initiated by Freud, current in psychoanalysis. It shows not only that they are incompatible but that the structural one (ego, superego, id) can completely replace the topographical one (Cs, Pcs, Ucs).

The theories are expounded separately and then compared. It is shown that the structural theory is superior in every way when applied to a number of fields but most interestingly to dream processes and to the dynamics of psychotic retreat from reality.