ABSTRACT
Despite certain theoretical objections related to the artificiality of reification of affects, it is clinically useful to consider the patient's ability to tolerate affects of adequate intensity in an undissociated form. Zetzel's classical papers have established the need to tolerate anxiety (1949) and depression (1965a) for emotional growth. Speaking about envy, Joffe (1969) made the point that "affect tolerance varies considerably from person to person and this variability may have several different causes..." (p. 543).
