ABSTRACT
To a certain extent the repetition of past experience is merely the natural and necessary assumption that what people learn of their surroundings will continue to serve as a reliable basis for future encounters. But repetitions of childhood happenings tend to occur in therapy in such rigid, persistent and dramatic form that Freud was led to seek further explanation for them. This child destroyed a life which was not worth living because it was utterly false; what was true had already died. But those who have not reached such a state of despair may hope that something may be preserved if they eliminate all that is false in them. Disturbed behaviour arising out of the hopeful urges of the crippled true self can also take different forms. For a change of this kind to be made, two requirements must be met: firstly, a setting must be provided which enables the patient to survive the transient psychological disruption.
