ABSTRACT
The pathology of the superego is very often matched by a corresponding pathology linked to the ego. Sigmund Freud's description of the fundamental mechanisms of neurosis in the early stages of psychoanalysis was only achieved due to the discovery of repression. He later completed them with other mechanisms, such as splitting. In short, where repression is content to say "No", pushing away what it refuses to accept, splitting simultaneously affirms and denies what it claims both to defend and to challenge. Analysts have expressed very different evaluations on working psychoanalytically with such patients. It is uncommon, however, for this evaluation to be totally negative. Generally, it is considered that even though the work accomplished has its limitations, it has impeded other developments, which, left to themselves, might have paved the way for even more worrying regressions.
