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In this interesting paper Eissler discusses the relationship between analytic technique and analytic theory, or, more specifically, between technique and ego structure. The basic model technique uses interpretation alone and is applicable to hysteria, where there is minimum ego damage. Deviations from this basic technique are required in other conditions, such as phobias, obsessive-compulsive reactions, delinquency, and schizophrenias, in which ego damage is more extensive.
The term parameter is defined as 'the deviation, both quantitative and qualitative, from the basic model technique, that is to say from a technique which requires interpretation as the exclusive tool'. The criteria of a parameter if the technique is to remain psychoanalytic are listed. The parameter employed in the analysis of phobia is regarded as the model.
The basic technique without deviation can be applied effectively to patients with no noteworthy modification of the ego. The behavior of the ego when the basic technique is used demonstrates whether or not the ego has suffered modification. According to Freud a normal ego is one which would 'guarantee unswerving loyalty to the analytic compact'. Personality structures can be classified according to the techniques needed to deal with their defects. For this classification the author suggests using Freud's concepts: 1, a hypothetically normal ego as defined by its response to the basic technique; 2, a scale leading by degrees to the condition of absolute unresponsiveness to the analytic compact; and 3, an intervening variety of ego modifications in which a variety of techniques must be correlated.
Ego change is distinguished from ego modification, and the cause of ego modifications is discussed. Defense mechanisms have a destructive effect on the ego, especially in schizophrenia, in which ego modifications are most conspicuous. In schizophrenia the defensive apparatus is kept in motion by energy which has not been desexualized or neutr