A Further Contribution to the Study of Slips of the Tongue: Ludwig Eidelberg. Int. J. Psa., XXV, 1944, pp. 8–13.

Eidelberg's trends of thought are not easily comprehended. Whereas Freud taught that a slip of the tongue is due to a return of a rejected impulse against the person's will, Eidelberg calls slips of the tongue a 'defense mechanism' because the rejected impulse does not find full and undistorted expression. Eidelberg discusses mechanisms of and motives for rejection of impulses as if they were essential for the occurrence of a slip. Among the mechanisms he stresses the turning of impulses against the subject, the compensating and overcompensating mobilization of opposite impulses or opposite 'instinctual fusions', and the turning from activity to passivity and vice versa. Among the motives he discusses the fear of narcissistic hurt (narcissistic mortification) which, by the occurrence of a slip, may be avoided or may nevertheless be experienced. Finally, Eidelberg talks about other defenses against narcissistic hurts. He considers rejection as a protection against being narcissistically hurt by the id (whereas mortifications from the external world and from the superego are accepted), while in introjection the mortification from the external world and from the superego is denied (and that from the id accepted).