ABSTRACT
In the interpretation of obsessions and compulsive acts as well as in the many forms of hysteria it was shown that many interpreters find the cause in some suppressed complex or disturbing remnant of former experience of which the subject is largely unaware. Obviously the cure of such disturbances, even temporary, depends upon the discovery of these repressed complexes or disturbing traces of former experience. The methods in use may then be divided into those which are indirect and those which are direct. The indirect methods seek only the probable nature of the complex. The direct methods seek to arouse as immediately as possible a detailed recall of the complex. The effect of an aroused complex upon the association response is known to be varied. Any effect is termed a complex indicator. Hypnosis is the great method of abstraction, but it was long ago abandoned by the psychoanalysts as a means of discovering the repressed material behind a psychoneurotic symptom.
