ABSTRACT
Anxiety, though usually the primary and certainly the simplest of the manifestations of psychogenic disorder, is probably the most uncomfortable, and the most difficult to tolerate when very acute or protracted. An early stage of this intolerability may be detected in the accompanying physical disturbances whose range seems limitless, from palpitation of the heart and digestive disturbances to paraesthesiae and paralyses. A great facility for defensive repression has thereby been developed, and, while transmutations of tension into conscious anxiety are inhibited, the path is laid open for their somatic absorption. Perhaps the more essential element distinguishing, or forming a transition between, the cases and anxiety neurosis is the relative strength of the repressing forces and the consequent deeper level and greater violence of the unconscious conflict.
