ABSTRACT

It is generally agreed today that neuroses are functional psychic disturbances and are to be cured by psychic methods of treatment. But when the authors come to the questions of the formation of the neurosis and of the basic principles of therapy, all agreement ends, and the authors have to acknowledge that the authors have as yet no fully satisfactory conception of the nature of the neurosis or of the principles of treatment. The human psyche is highly equivocal. In every single case, the authors must consider the question whether an attitude or a so-called habitus exists in its own right, or is perhaps only a compensation for the opposite. These possibilities fall within the scope of rational explanation, and it is not difficult to make such initial dreams plausible.