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It is generally conceded that what is called the “primary process” is an essential characteristic of the id. The concept primary process has been considered basic to psychoanalytic theory since Freud first formulated it in 1900, subsuming under it most of the characteristics of what he then called the “system Ucs.” (alternately the “primary system”; see quotation below) and later occasionally the “dynamic unconscious,”1 prior to eventually formulating the structural point of view.
The concept primary process has shared the fate of so many other psychoanalytic concepts in that it has not been uniformly used in the psychoanalytic literature. Unlike the case of other theoretical concepts, however, this was not due to any significant changes made by Freud in his original formulations concerning the primary process. In fact, Freud's overall formulations remained uniform, from The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) to the Outline (1940).
However, as we shall see shortly, the concept primary process encompasses so many aspects of mental functioning that, without changing the basic formulation, Freud used it differently in different works, depending on the aspects of his over-all concept he wished to emphasize.
Freud had already described the mental processes which he was eventually to subsume under the term “primary