ON THE PSYCHOANALYTIC-THEORY AND THERAPY OF NEUROTIC ANXIETIES

In the author's view anxiety is a psychosomatic phenomenon that develops into neurotic anxiety when unconscious psychic components come into play. He regards it as impossible to make a clear-cut distinction between neurotic anxiety and real anxiety given that anxiety neuroses also display an element of historical and continuing actuality and can thus be said to have ''real'' foundations. In his discussion of treatment techniques, Thoma introduces following Weiss and Sampson the concept of ''mastering'' to refer to the necessity of understanding the repititions and transferences of the patient as an attempt to master traumatic situations with the assistance of the analyst. In his view it is not sufficient to make the patient aware of libidinous and aggressive drives but rather to broaden the scope of action available to the patient.