ABSTRACT
If one looks carefully one can find an implicit unconscious assumption in many psychoanalytic writings that our theory is essentially complete and organized, with each part being fully integrated with every other. Imperfections in the theory, some of them major, are clearly recognized, but are seen as blemishes that have to be remedied . Gaps in our formulations have to be filled and definitions made much more precise, so that ultimately the pieces of the theoretical jig-saw puzzle will fit neatly together. Freud's ideas are seen as the
core of existing theory , and acceptable later developments are viewed as amplifications and additions which are consistent - or at least not inconsistentwith Freud's thoughts. Those who think in these terms will, when they disagree with other writers , do so on the grounds that the others have misunderstood, misinterpreted or misapplied Freud, and will turn back to Freud's writings to find supporting evidence for their own ideas .
