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In a short note on the fear of rotting, Schilder points out that, while on a more superficial or preconscious level this is related to castration, on a deeper level it expresses fear concerning the integrity of the inside of the body and is related to getting love by eating, and to pleasure in fæces and fear of fæces.
He feels that only Melanie Klein, among analytic authors, has given due emphasis to the importance of this fear concerning the integrity of the inside of the body. 'The idea of rotting and losing the inside or the outside of one's body is one of the deepest and most primitive fears.' Schilder gives brief examples from three patients.