The ego of the adolescent must experiment with a variety of defense mechanisms and patterns of integration. It finally achieves a compromise that gratifies the greatest number of needs within the limitations imposed by the superego—a superego that has been modified, however, by the abandonment of infantile inhibitions. The relationship to the parents passes through important phases which, if successfully managed, result in independence. Potentially neurotic conflicts are often spontaneously resolved. The ego seems to have at its disposal during this period an increased amount of energy that is probably derived, in part, from endocrine changes.