ABSTRACT
I am suggesting that we are in a position to uncover the core principles of a true theory of psychoanalysis that should replace the cathartic theory. In search for that core we need to distinguish between the func-
tional concepts that pertained to the cathartic theory and the structural concepts that pertain to psychoanalysis. The three modifi ed functional concepts of repression, Trieb and the Ucs., along with the signifi cant introduction of the concept of narcissism, highlighted a shift from a theory of “contents” to a theory of “formations”, that is, a theory of basics and of its derivatives. What is basic in the psyche is what is originary and formative of the subject, and has a defi ned course of development. However, through the process of forming the subject it gets exposed to pressures, to take different courses in development. The result is peculiar in terms of the outcome: either the originary stands the pressures and maintains its original trajectory with a measure of fl exibility; and in that case it will be fi xed despite its fl exibility, or it will succumb to the pressures and break the course of its development at the weakest point in its structure. The arrested progress creates a psychical condition that compels the halted psychical originary to lose its developmental impetus.
