ABSTRACT
The mechanism of avoidance is so primitive and natural and, moreover, so inseparably associated with the normal development of the ego that it is not easy, for purposes of theoretical discussion, to detach it from its usual context and to view it in isolation. Restrictions are imposed on the ego only for the purpose of avoiding the unpleasure ensuing from a realization of inferiority to others, that is, from disappointment and discouragement. When restriction of the ego takes place in consequence of objective anxiety or unpleasure, there is no such fixation to the interrupted activity. The stress here falls not on the activity itself but on the unpleasure or pleasure which it produces. As a method of avoiding unpleasure, ego restriction, like the various forms of denial, does not come under the heading of the psychology of neurosis but is a normal stage in the development of the ego.
