Psychoanalytic Thought on Phobia: Its Evolution and Its Relevance for Therapy

The development of psychoanalytic thought on phobia is traced from Freud's demonstration of the unconscious pathways that select the phobic topos, through the distinctions of the various phase-conditioned sources of anxiety, to the present conception of a structural intraphychic disequilibrium which the phobic symptom seeks to balance. Analytic treatment uncovers the genetic sources of the imbalance and, by fostering a new equilibrium, increases the ego's capacity to cope with conflict.