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Every psychological investigation about a thought, a literary work or artistic product is located somewhere in a force field between three poles in the life of its creator. The poles are the external reality, the internal reality and the actual work or product. (Enckell, 1986). Freud's study on Jokes (1905), about the shortest product of the literary mind, bear early witness to this proposition.
The intent of the present paper is to call attention to preconscious mental processes, namely to the process character of preconscious thinking. We try to analyse the origin and unfolding of some specific thoughts in the field of science and technology. We have had the opportunity during psychoanalytic treatment to investigate events in the “creative workshop” and the affiliation of these events in the realm of the current object relations and unconscious conflicts and defenses in the life of our subjects. We call our subjects (analysand) with the name of Theta and Alpha.
Theta sought analysis on account of several neurotic difficulties. He did not get on well with his co-workers and superiors. He was easily offended, and did not feel sufficiently respected. He was also anxious about being not able to master his violent outbursts of anger. One of the many complaints from which he suffered was constipation. His inveterate conflicts revolved around self-reliance. As in many inventors and research workers, self-reliance and independence were dominant traits in his personality, for he was a man who actively sought solitude and could utilize it creatively. To understand how things functioned, to master technical problems and to