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DISCUSSION: Dr. George Wiedeman cited the classical definition of acting out as behavior in the course of analysis which involves a re-enactment of attitudes and memories in the transference, and he noted the broadening of the definition to include all socially unacceptable behavior. He questioned whether the fear of death leads to acting out, or whether both result from sadistic and aggressive impulses and behavior toward important family figures in the past and present. Fear of death would then be a self-punitive result of the sadomasochistic conflicts. Dr. Wiedeman described three developmental factors important in patients who act out a great deal: (1) constitutionally higher than average activity level; (2) sexual overstimulation by family; and (3) marked pregenital fixation of parents, with exposure of children to sexual and aggressive scenes. Discussing the fear of death, Dr. Gerald Freiman reviewed the history of the evolution of different emphases in Freud's views on this topic, as revealed in his major theoretical papers. Dr. Freiman examined the role of unresolved childhood conflicts in determining the nature and significance of this fear and gave several clinical illustrations which highlighted the importance of guilt feelings, fears of abandonment, and castration anxiety. Compensatory and masochistic behaviors were cited, along with the observation that the connection between fear of death and acting out can be found in classically neurotic patients and in those with character disorders.