Peter Deri examines the contributions of the late Susan Deri, who reformulated metapsychological theory by expanding the concept of symbol formation. Drawing from the work of Langer, she attributed an innate gestalt or organizing quality to the deepest layer of the nonrepressed unconscious. This contrasts with Fechner's tension-reduction model of the mind, which greatly influenced Freud. Deri viewed symbol-making as an effort to create "order and connectedness within a person's psychic organization as well as bridging from the inside to the outside." Abstracts of previously unpublished papers of Susan Deri follow.