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etiology of neurosis from the time of the so-called seduction theory, developed in 1895-7, in a modification of the formula: ‘Early trauma—defense—latency—outbreak of neurotic illness— partial return of the repressed” (Freud, 1939, p. 80) with reference to individual psychology. The metapsychological assumptions of the Unconscious were formulated simultaneously and progressively throughout Freud’s work; the Structural model, where ‘ being unconscious’ appeared as a quality, did not appear overnight, neither did it completely replace the Topographic model. There is ample evidence that the elements of the Structural Theory were being gradually formulated and anticipated, long before 1923. Likewise, the Unconscious, particularly the Dynamic Unconscious, continued to be part of all mental structures of the Structural Theory: it filled the Id and much of the Superego, and the unconscious portion of the Ego, the defenses.
III. POST-FREUDIAN EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
In the post-Freudian psychoanalytic theorizing, the unconscious has undergone remarkable changes, along with the growth of several new clinical and theoretical models across all three regions. It will be noted that the first contributions that follow – (North American) Contemporary Freudian Theories: Structural Theory/Ego Psychology and the Modern Conflict Theory – have marked similarities. The differences are subtle, often a matter of emphasis, rather than core substance. But, however subtle, they are important: for example, their emphases on unconscious ego functioning and processes, including the unique role of the unconscious ego in forming defenses and resistances; and the synthesizing function of the mind dealing with conflict, respectively. The contemporary diversity of views on the Unconscious spans the contributions of theorists of Kleinian, Bionian, Self-Psychology, Relational, French, and Latin American persuasions, as well as interdisciplinary Neuro-Psychoanalytic views. The list concludes with various approaches to the Group Unconscious. III. A. Post-Freudian Developments of Structural Theory Freud’s (1920, 1923a, 1926) revisions of theory provided the impetus for rethinking ideas about the unconscious particularly in North America where many ego psychologists emigrated during the 1930s. For many of these North American analysts, writing during the 1940s and 1950s, the unconscious emerges through an undifferentiated matrix that yields the potential for future ego development and functions. Some of these functions are free from the effects of conflict, what Hartmann (Hartmann, 1939; Hartmann, Kris and Loewenstein, 1946) called primary autonomous functions, while others only become secondarily autonomous after the resolution of conflicts. In this process, all aspects are mediated by relationships as identifications become the major ego function for facilitating this “neutralization” of energy. Post-Freudian Structural Theory gradually added genetic, developmental and adaptive
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