VIII

THE

ELASTICITY

OF

PSYCHO-ANALYTIC

TECHNIQUE

(1928)

Lecture given to the Hungarian Psycho-Analytical

Society, 1927

EFFORTS to make the technique which I use in my psycho

analyses available to others have frequently brought up the

subject of psychological understanding. I f it were true, as so

many believe, that understanding of the mental processes in a

third person depends on a special, inexplicable, and therefore

untransferable faculty called knowledge of human nature, any

effort to teach my technique to others would be hopeless. For

tunately it is otherwise. Since the publication of Freud's

'Recommendations' (1912-15) on psycho-analytic technique,

we have been in possession of the first foundations for a methodi

cal investigation of the mind. Anyone who takes the trouble to

follow the master's instructions will be enabled, even if he is not

a psychological genius, to penetrate to unsuspected depths the

mental life of others, whether sick or healthy. Analysis of the

parapraxes of everyday life, of dreams, and in particular of free

associations, will put him in a position to understand a great

deal about his fellows which was previously beyond the range

of any but exceptional human beings. T h e human predilection

for the marvellous will cause this transformation into a kind of

craft of the art of understanding human nature to be received

with disfavour. Artists and writers i n particular appear to

regard it as a kind of incursion into their domain and, after

showing initial interest, summarily reject and turn their backs

on it as an unattractive and mechanical technique. This anti

pathy causes us no surprise. Science is a process of progressive

German original in Int. Z-f- ? *

lation.
1

sa

( 9 8)
!

Reprinted in Collected Papers, Vol. I I .

87

4> 91> First English trans

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FINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHO-ANALYSIS

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disillusionment; it displaces the mystical and the miraculous by

universally valid and inevitable laws, the monotony and ineluc
tability of which provoke boredom and displeasure. However,
it may serve as a partial consolation that among the practi
tioners of this craft, as of all others, artists will from time to time
appear to whom we may look for progress and new perspectives.
F r o m the practical point of view, however, it is an undeniable
advance that analysis has gradually succeeded in putting tools
for the more delicate investigation of the kind into the hands of
the physician and student of only average gifts. A similar
development occurred in regard to surgery; before the dis
covery of anaesthesia and asepsis it was the privilege of only a
favoured few to exercise that 'healing art'; in the conditions of
the time the art of working cito, tuto, etjucunde was confined to
them alone. T r u e , artists in the technique of surgery still exist
to-day, but the progress that has taken place enables all the
thousands of physicians of average ability to exercise their useful
and often life-saving activity.
A psychological technique had, of course, been developed
outside the field of mental analysis; I refer to the methods of
measurement used in psychological laboratories. This kind of
technique is still in vogue, and for certain simple, practical pur
poses it may be sufficient. But analysis has much more far
reaching aims: the understanding of the topography, d y n a m i c s ,
and economy of the whole mental apparatus, undertaken with
out impressive laboratory apparatus, but with ever-increasing
claims to scientific certainty and, above all, with incomparably
greater results.
Nevertheless, there has been, and still is, a great deal in
psycho-analytic technique which has created the impression
that it involves a scarcely definable, individual factor. This has
been chiefly due to the circumstance that in analysis the 'per
sonal equation* has seemed to occupy a far more important
place than we are called on to accept in other sciences. I n his
first essays on technique Freud himself left open the possibility
that there was room in psycho-analysis for methods other than
his own. But that expression of opinion dates from before the
crystallizing out of the second fundamental rule of psycho

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89

analysis, the rule by which anyone who wishes to undertake

analysis must first be analysed himself. Since the establishment
of that rule the importance of the personal element introduced
by the analyst has more and more been dwindling away. Any
one who has been thoroughly analysed and has gained com
plete knowledge and control of the inevitable weaknesses and
peculiarities of his own character will inevitably come to the
same objective conclusions in the observation and treatment of
the same psychological raw material, and will consequently
adopt the same tactical and technical methods in dealing with
it. I have the definite impression that since the introduction of
the second fundamental rule differences in analytic technique
are tending to disappear.
I f one attempts to weigh up the unresolved residue of this
personal equation, and if one is in a position to see a large
number of pupils and patients who have been analysed by
others, and if, like me, one has to wrestle with the consequences
of one's own earlier mistakes, one can claim the right to express
a comprehensive opinion about the majority of these differ
ences and mistakes. I have come to the conclusion that it is
above all a question of psychological tact whether or when one
should tell the patient some particular thing, when the material
he has produced should be considered sufficient to draw con
clusions, in what form these should be presented to the patient,
how one should react to an unexpected or bewildering reaction
on the patient's part, when one should keep silent and await
further associations, and at what point the further maintenance
of silence would result only in causing the patient useless suffer
ing, etc. As you see, using the word 'tact' has enabled me only
to reduce the uncertainty to a simple and appropriate formula.
But what is 'tact'? T h e answer is not very difficult. I t is the
capacity for empathy. If, with the aid of the knowledge we have
obtained from the dissection of many minds, but above all from
the dissection of our own, we have succeeded in forming a
picture of possible or probable associations of the patient's of
which he is still completely unaware, we, not having the patient's
resistances to contend with, are able to conjecture, not only his
withheld thoughts, but trends of his of which he is unconscious.

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At the same time, as we are continuously aware of the strength

of the patient's resistance, we should not find it difficult to decide
on the appropriateness or otherwise of telling him some par
ticular thing or the form in which to put it. This empathy will
protect us from unnecessarily stimulating the patient's resis
tance, or doing so at the wrong moment. I t is not within the
capacity of psycho-analysis entirely to spare the patient pain;
indeed, one of the chief gains from psycho-analysis is the capa
city to bear pain. But its tactless infliction by the analyst would
only give the patient the unconsciously deeply desired oppor
tunity of withdrawing himself from his influence.
A l l these precautions give the patient the impression of good
will on the analyst's part, though the respect that the latter
shows for the former's feelings derives solely from rational con
siderations. I n my subsequent observations I shall try in a cer
tain sense to justify the creation of this impression upon the
patient. T h e essence of the matter is that there is no conflict
between the tact which we are called upon to exercise and the
moral obligation not to do to others what in the same circum
stances we should not desire to have done to ourselves.
I hasten to add that the capacity to show this kind of 'good
will' represents only one side of psycho-analytic understanding.
Before the physician decides to tell the patient something, he
must temporarily withdraw his libido from the latter, and
weigh the situation coolly; he must in no circumstances allow
himself to be guided by his feelings alone.
I now propose to give a few brief examples to illustrate this
general point of view.
Analysis should be regarded as a process of fluid develop
ment unfolding itself before our eyes rather than as a structure
with a design pre-imposcd upon it by an architect. T h e analyst
should therefore in no circumstances be betrayed into promising
a prospective patient more than that, if he submits to the
analytic process, he will end by knowing much more about
himself, and that, if he persists to the end, he will be able to
adapt himself to the inevitable difficulties of life more success
fully and with a better distribution of his energies. H e can also

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be told that we know of no better and certainly of no more

radical treatment of psychoneurotic and character difficulties;
and we should certainly not conceal from him that there are
other methods which hold out quicker and more definite pros
pects of a cure; and, if patients then reply that they have already
submitted for years to treatment by suggestion, occupational
therapy, or methods of strengthening the will, we may feel
pleased. I n other cases we may suggest that they try one of these
much-promising methods before coming to us. But we cannot
allow to pass the objection usually made by patients that they
do not believe in our methods or theories. I t must be explained
to them at the outset that our technique makes no claim to be
entitled to such unmerited confidence in advance, and that they
need only believe in us if or when their experience of our
methods gives them reason to do so. T o another objection,
namely that in this way we repudiate in advance any responsi
bility for a possible failure of the analysis and lay it squarely
upon the patient and his impatience, we have no reply, and we
have to leave it to the patient himself to decide whether or not
to accept the risk of undertaking analysis under these difficult
conditions. I f these questions are not definitely settled in ad
vance, one is putting into the hands of the patient's resistance a
most dangerous weapon, which sooner or later he will not fail
to use against us and the objective of the analysis. E v e n the
most alarming question must not divert us from firmly establish
ing this basis for the analysis in advance. Many prospective
patients ask with visible hostility whether the analysis may not
last for two, three, five, or even ten years. We have to reply that
it is possible. 'But a ten-year analysis would in practice be
equivalent to a failure', we have to add. 'As we can never
. estimate in advance the magnitude of the difficulties to be over
come, we can promise you nothing, and can only say that in
many cases the time needed is much shorter. But, as you prob
ably believe that physicians like making favourable prognoses,
and as you have probably heard, or will soon hear, many ad
verse opinions about the theory and technique of psycho-analy
sis, it will be best, from your point of view, if you will regard
analysis as a bold experiment, which will cost you a great deal

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FINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHO-ANALYSIS

VIII

of toil, time, and money; and you must decide for yourself
whether or not the amount of suffering which your difficulties
are causing you is sufficient to make the experiment worth
while i n spite of ail that. I n any case, think it over carefully
before beginning, because without the earnest intention to per
sist, even in spite of inevitable aggravations of your condition,
the only result will be to add one more to the disappointments
you have already suffered.'
I believe this preparation, which certainly errs on the side of
pessimism, is certainly the better; in any case it is in accordance
with the requirements of the 'empathy rule*. For, behind the
prospective patient's often all-too-excessive display of faith in
us, there is nearly always concealed a strong dose of distrust,
which he is trying to shout down by his passionate demands on
us for promises of a cure.'A characteristic question that is often
put to us by a prospective patient, after we have spent perhaps
an hour trying to explain to him that we regard his case as suit
able for analysis, is: 'But, doctor, do you really think that analy
sis would help me?' I t would be a mistake to reply by simply
saying yes. It is better to say that we do not believe in offering
further assurances. Even if the prospective patient professes the
most glowing opinion of analysis, this does not eliminate his con
cealed suspicion that the physician is, after all, a business man
with something to sell. T h e patient's concealed incredulity is
even more manifest in the question: 'But, doctor, don't you
think that your methods might make me worse?' I generally
reply to this with a counter-question. 'What is your occupation?'
I ask. Suppose the answer is: ' I ' m an architect.' 'Well, what
would you say,' I reply, 'if you laid the plan for a new building
before a client, and he asked you whether it wouldn't collapse?'
T h i s generally puts an end to further demands for assurances,
because it dawns on the patient that the practitioner of any
craft is entitled to a certain amount of confidence on his own
speciality, though that does not, of course, exclude disappoint
ments.
Psycho-analysis is often reproached with being remarkably
concerned with money matters. My own opinion is that it is far
too little concerned with them. Even the most prosperous i n

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93

dividual spends money on doctors most unwillingly. Something

in us seems to make us regard medical aid, which in fact we all
first received from our mothers in infancy, as something to
which we are automatically entitled, and at the end of each
month, when our patients are presented with their bill, their
resistance is stimulated into producing all their concealed or
unconscious hatred, mistrust, and suspicion over again. T h e
most characteristic example of the contrast between conscious
generosity and concealed resentment was given by the patient
who opened the conversation by saying: 'Doctor, if you help me,
I ' l l give you every penny I possess!' ' I shall be satisfied with
thirty kronen an hour,' the physician replied. 'But isn't that
rather excessive?' the patient unexpectedly remarked.
I n the course of the analysis it is as well to keep one eye con
stantly open for unconscious expressions of rejection or dis
belief and to bring them remorselessly into the open. I t is only
to be expected that the patient's resistance should leave un
exploited no single opportunity for expressing these. Every
patient without exception notices the smallest peculiarities in
the analyst's behaviour, external appearance, or way of speak
ing, but without previous encouragement not one of them will
tell him about them, though failure to do so constitutes a crude
infringement of the primary rule of analysis. We therefore have
no alternative but to detect ourselves from the patient's associ
ations when we have offended his aesthetic feelings by an ex
cessively loud sneeze or blowing of the nose, when he has taken
offence at the shape of our face, or when he feels impelled to
compare our appearance with that of others of more impressive
physique.
I have on many other occasions tried to describe how the
analyst must accept for weeks on end the role of an Aunt Sally
on whom the patient tries out all his aggressiveness and resent
ment. I f we do not protect ourselves from this, but, on the con
trary, encourage the only-too-hesitant patient at every oppor
tunity that presents itself, sooner or later we shall reap the well
deserved reward of our patience i n the form of the arrival of the
positive transference. Any trace of irritation or offence on the
part of the physician only prolongs the duration of the resistance

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FINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHO-ANALYSIS

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period; if, ho.wever, the physician refrains from defending him

self, the patient gradually gets tired of the one-sided battle and,
when he has given full vent to his feelings, he cannot avoid con
fessing, though hesitantly, to the friendly feelings concealed
behind his noisy defence; the result being deeper access into
latent material, in particular into those infantile situations in
which the foundation was laid (generally by non-understanding
educators) for certain spiteful character traits.
Nothing is more harmful to the analysis than a schoolmaster
ish, or even an authoritative, attitude on the physician's part.
Anything we say to the patient should be put to him in the form
of a tentative suggestion and not of a confidently held opinion,
not only to avoid irritating him, but because there is always the
possibility that we may be mistaken. I t is an old commercial
custom to put E . & O . E . ' ('errors and omissions excepted') at
the bottom of every calculation, and every analytic statement
should be put forward with the same qualification. O u r confi
dence i n our own theories should be only conditional, for in
every case we may be presented with a resounding exception to
to the rule, or with the necessity of revising a hitherto accepted
theory. I recall, for instance, an uneducated, apparently quite
simple, patient who brought forward objections to an interpre
tation of mine, which it was my immediate impulse to reject;
but on reflection not I , but the patient, turned out to be right,
and the result of his intervention was a much better general
understanding of the matter we were dealing with. Thus the
analyst's modesty must be no studied pose, but a reflection of
the limitations of our knowledge. Incidentally this may suggest
the point from which, with the help of the lever of psycho
analysis, an alteration in the attitude of the doctor to the patient
may be brought about. Compare our empathy rule with the
lofty attitude to the patient generally adopted by the omniscient
and omnipotent doctor.
(

O f course I do not mean that the analyst should be over

modest. H e is fully justified in expecting that in the great
majority of cases his interpretations, being based on experience,
will sooner or later turn out to be correct, and that the patient
will end by accepting the accumulation of evidence. But the

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95

analyst must wait patiently until the patient makes up his own
mind; any impatience on the physician's part costs the patient
time and money and the physician a great deal of work which
he could very well spare.
A patient of mine once spoke of the 'elasticity of analytic tech
nique', a phrase which I fully accept. T h e analyst, like an
elastic band, must yield to the patient's pull, but without ceas
ing to pull in his own direction, so long as one position or the
other has not been conclusively demonstrated to be unten
able.
One must never be ashamed unreservedly to confess one's
own mistakes. I t must never be forgotten that analysis is no
suggestive process, primarily dependent on the physician's repu
tation and infallibility. A l l that it calls for is confidence in the
physician's frankness and honesty, which does not suffer from
the frank confession of mistakes.
Analysis demands of the physician, not only a firm control of
his own narcissism, but also a sharp watch on his emotional
reactions of every kind. I t used to be held that an excessive
degree of'antipathy' was an indication against undertaking an
analysis, but deeper insight into the relationship has caused us
to regard such a thing as unacceptable in principle, and to
expect the analysed analyst's self-knowledge and self-control to
be too strong for him to yield to such idiosyncrasies. Such 'anti
pathetic features' are in most cases only fore-structures, behind
which quite different characteristics are concealed; dropping
the patient in such cases would be merely leaving him in the
lurch, because the unconscious aim of intolerable behaviour is
often to be sent away. Knowledge of these things gives us the
advantage of being able coolly to regard even the most un
pleasant and repulsive person as a patient in need of help, and
even enables us not to withhold our sympathy from him. T h e
acquisition of this more than Christian humility is one of the
hardest tasks of psycho-analytic practice, and striving to achieve
it may incidentally lead us into the most terrible traps. I must
once more emphasize that here too only real empathy helps;
the patient's sharp wits will easily detect any pose.
One gradually becomes aware how immensely complicated

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FINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHO-ANALYSIS

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the mental work demanded from the analyst is. He has to let
the patient's free associations play upon him; simultaneously he
lets his own fantasy get to work with the association material;
from time to time he compares the new connexions that arise
with earlier results of the analysis; and not for one moment must
he relax the vigilance and criticism made necessary by his own
subjective trends.
One might say that his mind swings continuously between
empathy, self-observation, and making judgements. T h e latter
emerge spontaneously from time to time as mental signals,
which at first, of course, have to be assessed only as such; only
after the accumulation of further evidence is one entitled to
make an interpretation.
Above all, one must be sparing with interpretations, for one
of the most important rules of analysis is to do no unnecessary
talking; over-keenness in making interpretations is one of the
infantile diseases of the analyst. When the patient's resistance
has been analytically resolved, stages in the analysis are reached
every now and then in which the patient does the w6rk of inter
pretation practically unaided, or with only slight prompting
from the analyst.
A n d now let us return for a moment to the subject of my
much-praised and much-blamed 'activity'. I believe I am at
last in a position to give the details on timing for which I was
rightly asked. Y o u know, perhaps, that I was originally inclined
to lay down certain rules of behaviour, in addition to free
association, so soon as the resistance permitted such a burden.
Experience later taught me that one should never order or for
bid any changes of behaviour, but at most advise them, and that
one should always be ready to withdraw one's advice if it turned
out to be obstructive to the analysis or provocative of resistance.
M y original conviction that it was always the patient and never
the physician who must be 'active' finally led me to the con
clusion that we must content ourselves with interpreting the
patient's concealed tendencies to action and supporting his
feeble attempts to overcome the neurotic inhibitions to which
he had hitherto been subject, without pressing or even advising
1

See my papers on technique in Further Contributions,

1928

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97

him to take violent measures. I f wc arc patient enough, the

patient will himself sooner or later come up with the question
whether he should risk making some effort, for example to defy
a phobic avoidance. I n such a case we shall certainly not with
hold our consent and encouragement, and in this way wc shall
make all the progress expected from activity without upsetting
the patient and falling out with him. I n other words, it is the
patient himself who must decide the timing of activity, or at any
rate give unmistakable indications that the time is ripe for it. I t
remains true, of course, that such attempts by the patient pro
duce changes of tension in his psychical system and thus prove
to be a method of analytic technique in addition to the
associations.
I n another technical paper I have already drawn attention
to the importance of working through, but I dealt with it rather
onesidedly, as a purely quantitative factor. I believe, however,
that there is also a qualitative side to working through, and that
the patient reconstruction of the mechanism of the symptom and
character formation should be repeated again and again at
every forward step in the analysis. Every important new insight
gained calls for a revision of all the material previously pro
duced, and may involve the collapse of some essential parts of
what may have been thought to be a complete structure. T h e
more subtle connexions between this qualitative working
through and the quantitative factor (discharge of affect) must
be left to a more detailed study of the dynamics of analytical
technique.
A special form of this work of revision appears to occur, how
ever, i n every case; I mean the revision of the emotional experi
ences which happened i n the course of the analyses. T h e analy
sis itself gradually becomes a piece of the patient's life-history,
which he passes in review before bidding us farewell. I n the
course of this revision it is from a certain distance and with
much greater objectivity that he looks at the experiences
through which he went at the beginning of his acquaintanceship
with us and the subsequent unravelling of the resistance and
transference, which at the time seemed so immediate and i m
1

'The Problem of the Termination of the Analysis*, this vol., p. 77.

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FINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHO-ANALYSIS

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portant to him; and he then turns his attention away from

analysis to the real tasks of life.
I n conclusion I should like to hazard some remarks about the
metapsychology of our technique. I t has often been said, by
myself among others, that the process of recovery consists to a
great extent of the patient's putting the analyst (his new father)
in the place of the real father who occupies such a predominant
place in his super-ego, and his then going on living with the
analytic super-ego thus formed. I do not deny that such a pro
cess takes place in every case, and I agree that this substitution
is capable of producing important therapeutic effects. But I
should like to add that it is the business of a real character
analysis to do away, at any rate temporarily, with any kind of
super-ego, including that of the analyst. T h e patient should end
by ridding himself of any emotional attachment that is indepen
dent of his own reason and his own libidinal tendencies. O n l y a
complete dissolution of the super-ego can bring about a radical
cure. Successes that consist in the substitution of one super-ego
for another must be regarded as transference successes; they fail
to attain the final aim of therapy, the dissolution of the transfer
ence.
I should like to mention, as a problem that has not been con
sidered, that of the metapsychology of the analyst's mental pro
cesses during analysis. His cathexes oscillate between identifica
tion (analytic object-love) on the one hand and self-control or
intellectual activity on the other. During the long day's work he
can never allow himself the pleasure of giving his narcissism and
egoism free play in reality, and he can give free play to them in
his fantasy only for brief moments. A strain of this kind scarcely
occurs otherwise in life, and I do not doubt that sooner or later
it will call for the creation of a special hygiene for the analyst.
Unanalysed ('wild') analysts and incompletely cured patients
are easily recognizable by the kind of 'compulsive analysing'
from which they suffer; in contrast to the unhampered mobility
1

By metapsychology we mean, of course, the sum-total of the ideas about

the structure and dynamics of the psychical apparatus which our psycho
analytic experiences have caused us to adopt. See Freud's papers on meta
1

psychology in his Collected Papers, Vol.

IV.

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of the libido which is the result of a complete analysis, which

makes it possible to exercise analytic self-knowledge and self
control when necessary, but in no way hampers free enjoyment
of life. T h e ideal result of a completed analysis is precisely that
elasticity which analytic technique demands of the mental
therapist. This is one more argument for the necessity of the
second fundamental rule of psycho-analysis.
Having regard to the great importance of any new technical
recommendation, I could not make up my mind to publish this
paper before submitting it to a colleague with a request for
criticism.
' T h e title ["Elasticity"] is excellent/ he replied, 'and should
be applied more widely, for Freud's technical recommendations
were essentially negative. H e regarded it as his most important
task to emphasize what one should not do, to draw attention to
all the temptations and pitfalls that stand in the way of analysis,
and he left all the positive things that one should do to what you
called " t a c t " . T h e result was that the excessively docile did not
notice the elasticity that is required and subjected themselves to
Freud's " d o n ' t ' s " as if they were taboos. This is a situation that
requires revision, without, of course, altering Freud's rules,
' T r u e though what you say about tact is, the concessions you
make to it seem to me to be questionable i n the form i n which
you have put them. Those who have no tact will find in what
you say a justification for arbitrary action, i.e. the intervention
of the subjective element (i.e. the influence of their own un
mastered complexes). What in reality we undertake is a weigh
ing upgenerally at the preconscious levelof the various re
actions that we may expect from our intervention, and the most
important aspect i n this is quantitative assessment of the
dynamic factors in the situation. Rules for making such an
assessment can naturally not be given. T h e decisive factors are
the analyst's experience and normality. But tact should be
robbed of its mystical character,'
I entirely share my critic's view that these technical precepts
of mine, like all previous ones, will inevitably be misused and

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FINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHO-ANALYSIS

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misunderstood, i n spite of the most extreme care taken in draft

ing them. There is no doubt that manyand not only beginners,
but all who have a tendency to exaggerationwill seize on what
I have said about the importance of empathy to lay the chief
emphasis in their handling of patients on the subjective factor,
i.e. on intuition, and will disregard what I stated to be the all
important factor, the conscious assessment of the dynamic
situation. Against such misinterpretations repeated warnings
are obviously useless. I have even discovered that, i n spite of the
caution with which I put it forwardand my caution in the
matter increases as time goes onsome analysts have used
'activity' as an excuse to indulge their tendency to impose on
their patients entirely unanalytic rules, which sometimes border
on sadism. I should therefore not be surprised if one day I heard
my views on the patience required of an analyst used to justify a
masochistic technique. Nevertheless the method which I follow
and recommendthe method of elasticityis not equivalent to
non-resistance and surrender. T r u e , we try to follow the patient
i n all his moods, but we never cease to hold firm to the view
point dictated to us by our analytic experience.
M y principal aim in writing this paper was precisely to rob
'tact' of its mystical character. I agree, however, that I have
only broached the subject and have by no means said the last
word about it. I am, perhaps, a little more optimistic than my
critic about the possibility of formulating positive advice on the
assessment of certain typical dynamic conditions. For the rest,
his belief that the analyst should be experienced and normal
more or less corresponds to my own belief that the one depend
able foundation for a satisfactory analytic technique is a com
plete analysis of the analyst himself. T h e processes of empathy
and assessment will obviously take place, not in the uncon
scious, but at the pre-conscious level of the well-analysed
analyst's mind.
Obviously under the influence of the above warnings, I feel
it necessary to clarify one of the ideas put forward in this paper.
I refer to my suggestion that a sufficiently deep character analy
sis must get rid of any kind of super-ego. A n over-logical mind
might interpret this as implying that my technique aimed at

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robbing people of all their ideals. I n reality my objective was to

destroy only that part of the super-ego which had become un
conscious and was therefore beyond the range of influence. I
have no sort of objection to the retention of a number of positive
and negative models in the pre-conscious of the ordinary i n
dividual. I n any case he will no longer have to obey his pre
conscious super-ego so slavishly as he had previously to obey his
unconscious parent imago.