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This extensive study re-evaluates the concept of bisexuality in psychoanalytic theory, a concept constantly referred to but little understood and often relegated to the periphery of metapsychology, or even excluded entirely. It is an error to consider all bisexual manifestations as pathogenic or morbid; David stresses the organizing power of psychic bisexuality. It is a major concept, not a marginal one as some would hold. Although Freud never developed a clear and decisive theory of bisexuality, the concept was continually utilized and reaffirmed from 1899 to 1938. As a concept, it was present at the beginning of psychoanalysis, and it remained a major theoretical concept even after its dissociation from repression in 1914 and even after 1920, when the antagonism between Eros and the destructive instinct took precedence over all other previous oppositions and when reference to the phallic-castrated dichotomy became prevalent. It was a major theoretical concept even in Analysis Terminable and Interminable. Freud's ambiguity about the concept has been reflected in subsequent psychoanalytic writings, with opinions ranging from the view that bisexuality is fundamental to the psychoanalytic concept of man (Adler, Jung, Stekel, Groddeck, Ferenczi) to its pure and simple denial (Rado, Bergler, Sherfey).
Psychic bisexuality must be seen as a manifestation of the unconscious: the accent must be placed on the psychological rather than on the biological. Just as Freud early on noted the relative independence of psychology from biology in other instinctual matters, psychological bisexuality must be seen as developing upon biological bisexuality, but it must be recognized as eventually functioning independently of its biological foundation. According to David, the concept of bisexuality should undergo the same generalization in psychic life as the theoretical concept of sexuality. By so generalizing the concept we can discern the role of bisexuality in complex question