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Anxiety is not the only affect which characteristically triggers defenses and psychic conflict; depressive affect does the same. The two affects are defined, compared, and related to the pleasure principle. Precipitants of depressive affect are discussed and compared with precipitants of anxiety. Defenses and other reactions to depressive affect are also discussed. The clinical importance of this expansion of the psychoanalytic theory of conflict and symptom-formation is emphasized, especially with respect to superego functioning and conflicts related to aggression.