The transference neurosis crystallizes the dilemma of the desire for present gratification of the infantile longings deriving from the historical past. The resolution of the transference neurosis

and the process of working through includes re-establishing a broader perspective of the historical past in the service of the deferral for future gratification of the infantile longings. The goal is the acceptance of compromise formations for the present which have some limited degree of autonomy within the suggested framework and through this the attainment of a constructive present existence. The thesis developed here should not be confused with the common techniques of defense employed to maintain the neurotic state and which appear as resistances in psychoanalysis. Current interest and research in connection with autonomous ego functioning and the attempts to define the mechanisms by which they work are important; but care must be exercised lest ego psychology becloud the fundamental discoveries of psychoanalysis.