ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the structural frame of reference by way of a discussion of the changes in theory represented in Sigmund Freud's structural model. One of the most important changes embodied in the structural theory was a shift away from the emphasis on the "movement from the depths to the surface" perspective characteristic of the second phase. Freud had always been very aware of the importance of current and past adaptations to external reality. While the structural model of the mind was equally concerned with the vicissitudes of sexual and aggressive drives, it placed more emphasis than before on the functions and structures that delay and alter drive expression. Freud was again concerned with the organization of a mental apparatus, although its new structural entities were not primarily based upon the relationship of mental processes and contents to the quality of consciousness or unconsciousness.
