Repression is rather more in the nature of an adaptation to the impingement of external pathological change upon the developing ego than an adjustment to phylogenetically determined imbalances or changes in development. Although repression provides a useful means for coping with pathological change, the extent to which repression occurs is one index of the degree of departure from good health.

Restitutive behavior in the child seeks to preserve the source of gratification of primary needs by a 'needed object', rather than seeking to appease a 'loving object' with a view to preserving the love. Our concept of the meaning of guilt should be expanded to the more inclusive view that guilt is a need for punishment in an urge to make reparation to a 'needed object', rather than limiting the meaning to the common situation in which restitutive behavior arises from parental love and the child's fear of losing it.