Traumatic neurosis occurs when the influx of stimuli is so great and so rapid as to be unassimilable. Psychoneurosis occurs when discharge is severely blocked. The traumatic neurotic takes an important step when he changes from passively experiencing stimuli to actively repeating them in order to master them. Under conditions of severe stress, more mature mechanisms of defense against anxiety such as repression and reaction-formation are replaced by more primitive mechanisms such as denial, regression, and repetitive discharge. The symbolism and dreams of such patients, as of psychotics, are thinly disguised. Hayman illustrates these and other characteristics of traumatic neurosis.