Remarks on the Common Phobias

Phobias, as examples of neuroses as well as with reference to their specific mechanisms, have often been made the subject of psychoanalytic research. Freud showed that all psychoneuroses are the outcome of conflicts between infantile sexual strivings, remobilized by regression, and fears of the dangers unconsciously connected with these strivings; that neurotic symptoms are a compromise between the instinctual demands and the counterforces motivated by fears. Since the motivating anxiety becomes manifest in phobias, they seem to represent the simplest type of neurosis. In a situation which unconsciously represents an instinctual temptation, anxiety is felt instead of excitement, and subsequently the situation (and therewith the anxiety) is avoided. Most infantile neuroses follow this relatively simple phobic pattern. In all other types of neuroses, the anxiety manifest in the phobias has found further elaboration.

However, the phobic situation does not in every instance represent a sexual temptation. It may represent an aggressive impulse1 or it may be reminiscent of an early frustration, sometimes of an unconsciously feared punishment. Most frequently it combines an unconscious temptation with an anticipation of punishment.

This relatively simple explanation created many new problems, most of which have already been solved. For example, if the phobic situation unconsciously revives an infantile striving, and the anxiety functions as a 'warning signal' against the danger, it might be expected that the warning would be only a slight one. But the anxiety which accompanies most phobias is