In the last chapter we have dealt with the general question of mental conflict, and have discussed one of the methods by which the mind may avoid the internal stress and accompanying disagreeable emotional tension which a state of conflict inevitably produces. This method, characterised by the formation in the mind of ‘logic-tight compartments’, accounts, as we have seen, not only for many of the phenomena observed in everyday life but also for some of the secondary phenomena met with in insanity.

Sometimes, however, this simple method of avoidance is not available, and the mind may then resort to other ways of freeing itself from the stresses and strains of conflict. The majority of these other methods are included under the general conception of ‘repression’, and we must now proceed to examine this conception and the various phenomena which it serves to explain.

The precise conditions under which the mechanism of the ‘logic-tight compartment’ can no longer be employed are at present imperfectly understood. The factors which play the principal part therein can, however, probably be summarised in the two following groups. First, the complexes at war with one another may be of such intrinsic importance and strength that the conflict between them cannot be concealed from the mind by the simple process of allowing each to pursue its own independent course and development. Secondly, the mind may be of a relatively more sensitive type which detects at once the unsatisfactory nature of this procedure.