ABSTRACT
Sigmund Freud also believed that there were forms of anxiety typical of each of the stages of psychosexual development. Separation anxiety—the dread of loss—is characteristic of the oral stage; during the anal stage, we experience the fear of the loss of love, while the typical form of anxiety during the phallic stage is, of course, castration anxiety. Moral anxiety (guilt) can only be experienced once the superego has been established at the conclusion of the phallic stage. The development of his new ego psychology gave impetus to the study, classification, and interpretation of defences. Freud's choice of the term "defence mechanisms" is significant. Defences occur automatically in response to inner situations of danger. The Freudian concept must therefore be distinguished from more voluntaristic conceptions of "self deception", such as that promoted by Sartre. Freud's articulation of the structural model fundamentally altered his conception of the psychoanalytic process.
