ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the nature and function of phantasy as a whole, and its place in the mental life. The world of phantasy shows the same protean and kaleidoscopic changes as the contents of a dream. Phantasy is the mental corollary, the psychic representative, of instinct. A phantasy represents the particular content of the urges or feelings dominating the mind at the moment. Psycho-analysis has shown that the quality of being "merely" or "only" imagined is not the most important criterion for the understanding of the human mind. The principle of observing context, like that of attention to detail, is an essential element in the technique of psycho-analysis, whether with adults or children. In the mental development of the infant, however, phantasy soon becomes also a means of defence against anxieties, a means of inhibiting and controlling instinctual urges and an expression of reparative wishes as well.
