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For persons attracted by the forbidden, 'dangerous' actions are accompanied by a specific feeling which cannot be traced simply to realistic fear of punishment. This
is a feeling of intoxicating pleasure mixed with anxiety, and does not result in gratification without tension. Residual dissatisfaction spurs such persons to repeat the action. At the root of such behavior is more than the simple need to compensate actively for the loss of infantile omnipotence. He who is subject to the lure of the forbidden is striving '1, to overcome his inferiority feelings, regularly bound up with internal insecurity caused by the superego; 2, to train his aggression against the superego, or a representative of it, whether real or imaginary; 3, to obtain a libidinal outlet by erotizing his anxiety'. The last point is of great importance for distinguishing compulsive defiance of 'the forbidden' from those types of masochistic behavior dominated by an almost pure need for punishment. 'Basically, he who performs an action because it is forbidden wants to prove to himself that he can defy some possible inner retaliation, and find pleasure in a situation of danger.' But such an individual wants two opposing things at the same time, and is unable to tolerate either: he can 'endure neither the temporary triumph of the id, nor the domination of the superego'. The lure of the forbidden is thus like the fascination of gambling to the gambler who can endure neither losing nor winning. Since no satisfactory solution can be achieved, the behavior becomes cyclic.