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To clarify some of the obscurities of the interaction of ego and superego in the genesis of obsessive-compulsive disorders, it is necessary to distinguish more precisely between the postoedipal, mature superego and the pregenital or archaic superego. Introjected parental images from the infantile period of ego
development are directly related to obsessional and compulsive symptoms, and these images of omnipotence are representatives of the archaic superego. Omnipotence in obsessional neurosis is a quality of the archaic superego, while magical thinking, a derivative of the pleasure principle, is the property of the ego itself.