Weiss (this issue) has proposed that a person may exercise unconscious control over repressions on the basis of unconscious appraisals of danger and safety. This hypothesis derives from Freud's (1926) theory in which a person institutes repression because of an anticipation that certain inner feelings or intentions would bring about a danger situation. The person's anticipation of danger (based on a pathogenic belief) evokes anxiety and leads to defense. The person maintains repressions and symptoms in obedience to such beliefs and the dangers they foretell.