ABSTRACT
It is, of course, a matter of common experience to become anxious before a test of one’s abilities (particularly when it may involve failure). In everyday language, this is expressed in terms of fear of injury to one’s self-esteem. In psychoanalytic terms, such anxiety can be described as a threat to the individual’s potency and narcissism, as well as to his feelings of security. An individual has a need for a graded experience of success, in whatever field it is acquired. Such successes are often viewed by patients or individuals as the psychic equivalent of a good, satisfying feed, though they may be felt in terms of other satisfactory bodily experiences. Success produces in the individual a feeling of well-being and viability. The more anxiety arising from unconscious phantasy predominates, the more the fear of the reactions of the external world increases, should any action result in failure.
