This book comprises the Porter Lectures delivered by Dr. Kubie at the University of Kansas and presents a popularized version of his theories of thought processes which have appeared in articles published in This QUARTERLY and other journals.

Dr. Kubie states that his purpose in these lectures is to demonstrate that both creative and neurotic processes are universal, that creativity may be distorted by neurosis, but that creativity is not dependent on neurosis. He approaches his problem, as he says, by disregarding economic and structural aspects of psychoanalytic theory, and by returning to earlier theories—specifically the topographic theory—which treats conscious, preconscious, and unconscious not as mental qualities but as systems.