ABSTRACT
Freud approached the problem of guilt from two main angles. On the one hand he left no doubt that anxiety and guilt are closely connected with each other. On the other hand he came to the conclusion that the term 'guilt' is only applicable in regard to manifestations of conscience which are the result of super-ego development. K. Abraham suggested that 'in the stage of narcissism with a cannibalistic sexual aim the first evidence of an instinctual inhibition appears in the shape of morbid anxiety. The process of overcoming the cannibalistic impulses is intimately associated with a sense of guilt which comes into the foreground as a typical inhibitory phenomenon belonging to the third stage'. According to Abraham guilt arises in the overcoming of cannibalistic—aggressive—impulses during the earlier anal-sadistic stage; but he did not consider a differentiation between anxiety and guilt.
