A defense mechanism is described in which excessive emotional excitement is avoided by dividing it into tolerable doses. The overwhelming affect is discharged piecemeal; it is experienced partially at different times or distributed among different objects. It is spaced. The crowding of emotions is described as a way of intensifying them or of proving one's ability to withstand them. Clear clinical examples of both are given. The two mechanisms may co-exist normally as part of the ego's attempt to regulate and manage emotions.