ABSTRACT
The structural theory formalizes the role of morality within the personality in terms of the "super-ego", possibly better translated as "over-I" or "Upper-I", given the German Uber-Ich. The role of the superego contributes a new dimension to the earlier topographical account of primary and secondary repression. Although some claim that this new "structural" theory can be superimposed on the topographic theory. What the structural account further highlights is the role of anxiety and fear in repression. What Sigmund Freud's new theory of anxiety means is that both neurotic anxiety and realistic anxiety constitute a reaction to the perception and evaluation of a threat. Signal anxiety emerges if an event similar to the original traumatic one threatens a re-occurrence of the original state of helplessness. Although the structural account has received various criticisms in terms of ill-defined terms, and not reflecting the clinical data, one particularly important theoretical issue concerns the articulation of the theory in terms of anthropomorphic metaphors.
