Meetings of the New York Psychoanalytic Society

May 20, 1952. SOME MODIFICATIONS OF FREUD'S THEORY OF ANXIETY. Max Schur, M.D.

Dr. Schur asks whether we need the theory of signal anxiety to explain defense, and whether Freud proved that anxiety is expedient. Freud described anxiety as a reaction to danger originating in the traumatic situation, which in turn he correlated with the various stages of development. He established the concept of anxiety as a signal, and discovered the role of anxiety and the ego in symptom formation. Schur discusses these points with reference to various traumatic situations.

Increasing 'desomatization' of reaction results as maturation occurs in the secondary processes, in the development of the motor apparatus, and in the development of the central nervous system and the stabilization of homeostatic responses. Action is replaced by thought and verbalization: 'The desirable result is mastery of excitations with a minimum consumption of energy'. The weak link in this process of mastery is that vegetative somatic reactions escape its influence. We are better equipped to deal with external dangers than with inner tensions. With maturation, inner danger (hunger) changes into outer danger (absence of mother, threat of punishment), and memory enables us to anticipate danger.

In Freud's formulation, anxiety is the reaction to danger, and awareness of danger is identical with anxiety. Schur disagrees on the point of the expediency of such anxiety. He develops the thesis that anxiety decreases the capacity for survival. The intricate mechanism of the secondary processes necessary for mastery of problems is disrupted by anxiety. Anxiety need not be relived each time in order to realize the dangers of a situation. Anticipation, recognition and evaluation enable us to avoid danger, to master it without anxiety. The disagreement with Freud 'concerns the role the ego plays in anxiety and specifically the concept of anxiety as a signal actively given by the ego'. Schur proposes the th