第59页 The Ego's Dependent Relations

If anyone were inclined to put forward the paradoxical proposition that the normal man is not only far more immoral than he believes but also far more moral than he know, psycho-analysis, on whose findings the first half of the assertion rests, would have no objection to raise against the second half.
Psychoanalysis is an instrument to enable the ego to achieve a progressive conquest of the id
The formation of ego and superego : object-cathexes to identification
-> 对象-投注所导致的认同，如何导致超我的形成？
-> 从吃奶开始，超我就有了（Klein：部分客体到整体客体的转变）
-> 从部分到整体之时，超我出场
（什么时候是好乳房？什么时候是坏乳房？母亲在什么时候乳房是好的？
The ego is formed to a great extent out of identifications which take the place of abandoned cathexes by the id; that the first of these identifications always behave as a special agency in the ego and stand apart from the ego in the form of a super-ego, while later on, as it grows stronger, the ego may become more resistant to the influences of such identifications.
The superego is far closer to unconsciousness than ego(!!!):
But the derivation of the super-ego from the first object-cathexes of the id, from the Oedipus complex, signifies even more for it. This derivation, as we have already shown[p.36ff.], brings it into relation with the phylogenetic acquisitions of the id and makes it a reincarnation of former ego-structures which have left their precipitates behind in the id. Thus the super-ego is always close to the id and can act as its representative vis-à-vis the ego. It reaches deep down into the id and for that reason is farther from consciousness than the ego is.
'negative therapeutic reaction' : the desire for illness got the upper hand over the desire for recovery
-> the desire to be punished, the battle with the unconscious sense of guilt(***)
In the end we come to see that we are dealing with what may be called a 'moral' factor, a sense of guilt, which is finding its satisfacation in the illness and refuses to give up the punishment of suffering. We shall be right in regarding this disheartening explanation as final. But as far as the patient is concerned this sense of guilt is dumb; it does not tell him he is guilty; he does not feel guilty, he feels ill. This sense of guilt expresses itself only as a resistance to recovery which it is extremely difficult to overcome. It is also particularly difficult to convince the patient that this motive lies behind his continuing to be ill; he hold fast to the more obvious explanation that treatment by analysis is not the right remedy for his case. 
-> however it's a quite difficult battle to fight(***)
The battle with the obstacle of an unconscious sense of guilt is not made easy for the analyst. Nothing can be done against it directly, and nothing indirectly but the slow procedure of unmasking its unconscious repressed roots, and of thus gradually chaging it into the a conscious sense of guilt. One has a special opportunity for influencing it when this Ucs. sense of guilt is a 'borrowed' one -- when it is the product of an identification with some other person who was once the object of an erotic cathexis. A sense of guilt that has been adopted in this way is often the sole remaining trace of the abandoned love-relation and not at all easy to recognize as such.(The likeness between this procee and what happens in melancholia is unmistakable.) If one can unmask this former object-cathexis behind the Ucs. sense of guilt, the therapeutic success is often brilliant, but otherwisw the outcome of one's efforts is by no means ceartain. It depends principally on the intensity of the sense of guilt; there is often no counteracting force of a similar order of strength which the treatment can oppose to it. Perhaps it may depen, too, on whether the personality of the analyst allows of the patient's putting him in the place of his ego ideal, and this involves a temptation for the analyst to play the part of prophet, saviour and redeemer to the patient. Since the rules of analysis are diametrically opposed to the physician's making use of his personality in any such manner, it must be honestly confessed that here we have another limitation to the effectiveness of analysis; after all, analysis does not set out to make pathological reactions impossible, but to give the patient's egoo freedom to decide one way or the other.
The ways in which the sense of guilt is expressed in different conditions:
-> conscience (normal conditions)
it is based on the tension between the ego and the ego ideal and is the expression of a condemnation of the ego by its critical agency.
-> obsessional neurosis : ego is not convinced by superego
In certain forms of obsessional neurosis the sense of guilt is over-noisy but cannot justify itself to the ego. Consequently the patient's ego rebels against the imputation of guilt and seeks the physician's support in repudiating it. It would be folly to acquiesce in this, for to do so would have no effect. Analysis eventually shows that the super-ego is being influenced by processes that have remained unknown to the ego. It is possible to discover the repressed impulses which are really at the bottom of the sense of guilt. Thus in this case the super-ego knew more than the ego about the unconscious id.
-> melancholia : ego is convinced by superego(identification)
In melancholia the impression that the super-ego has obtained a hold upon consciousness is even stronger. But here the ego ventures no objection; it admits its guilt and submits to the punishment.
-> hysteria : ego responible for the Ucs. sense of guilt
The hysterical ego fends off a distressing perception with which the criticisms of its super-ego threaten it, in the same way in which it is in the habit of fending off an unendurable object-cathexis--by an act of repression.
Is the superego consisting in the word-presentations(verbal residues in Pcs.)?
How does the superego manifest itself as a sense of guilt and harsh criticism towards the ego?
-> As for melancholia : superego <-<- death instinct(***)
If we turn to melancholia first, we find that the excessively strong super-ego which has obtained a hold upon consciousness rages against the ego with merciless violence, as if it had taken possession of the whole of the sadism available in the person concerned. Following our view of sadism, we should say that the destructive component had entrenced itself in the super-ego and turned against the ego. What is now holding sway in the super-ego is, as it were, a pure culture of the death instinct, and in fact it often enough succeeds in driving the ego into death, if the latter does not fend off its tyrant in time by the change round into mania.
-> As for obsessional neurosis : death instinct towards the object -> ego(self-toturing but living) <- reproaches of superego
It is noteworthy that the obsessional neurotic, in contrast to the melancholic, never in fact takes the step of self-destruction; it is as though he were immune against the danger of suicide, and he is far better protected from it than the hysteric. We can see that what guarantees the safety of the ego is the fact that the object has been retained. In obsessional neurosis it has become possible, through a regression to the pregenital organization, for the love-impulses to transform themselves into impulses of aggression against the object. Here again the instinct of destrution has been set free and it seeks to destroy the object, or at least it appears to have that intention. These purposes have not been adopoted by the ego and it struggles against them with reaction-formations and precautionary meaasures; they remain in the id. The super-ego, however, behaves as if the ego were responsible for them and shows at the same time by the seriousness with which it chastises these destructive intentions that they are no mere semblance evoked by regression but an actual substituion of hate for love. Helpless in both directions, the ego defends itself vainly, alike against the instigations of the murderous id and against the reproaches of the punishing conscience. It succeeds in hold in check at least the most brutal actions of both sides; the first outcome is interminable self-torment, and eventually there follows a systematic torturing of the object, in so far as it is within reach.
In the case of melancholia, why it becomes a kind of gathering-place for the death instincts?
-> Id : totally non-moral; Ego : strives to be moral; Superego : super-moral, as cruel as id
-> The more a man controls his aggression, the more aggressive his superego would be to the ego
-> Why is superego cruel? : The formation of superego is essentially a process of desexualization and sublimation. In other words, it's a process of instincutal defusion. The erotic part is eliminated. Thus, the power of aggression and destruction is released.
Finally, about ego
-> perceptual system ('reality-testing')
-> access to motility (constituional monarch of motility)
All the experiences of life that originate from without enrich the ego; the id, however, is its second external world, which it strives to bring into subjection to itself. It withdraws libido from the id and transforms the object-cathexes of the id into ego-structures. With the aid of the super-ego, in a manner that is still obscure to us, it draws upon the experiences of past ages stored in the id.
There are two ways from the id to the ego:
-> the direct way(unconscious repression, the flow of libido)
-> through superego
The ego develops from perceiving instincts to controlling them, from obeying instincts to inhibiting them. In this achievement a large share is taken by the ego ideal, which indeed is partly a reaction-formation against the instinctual processes of the id.
Threefold danger(anxiety) faced by the ego : ego, as a politician and negotiator
-> External world
-> Libido of the id
-> Severity of the superego
In point of fact it behaves like the physician during an analytic treatment: it offers itself, with the attention it pays to the real world ,as a libidinal object to the id, and aims at attaching the id's libido to itself. It is not only a helper to the id; it is also a submissive slave who courts his master's love. Whenever possible, it tries to remain on good terms with the id; it clothes the id's Ucs. commands with its Pcs. rationalizations; it pretends that the id is showing obedience to the admonitions of reality, even when in fact it is remaining obstinate and unyielding; it disguises the id's conflicts with reality and, if possible, its conflicts with the superego too. In its position midway between the id and reality, it only too often yields the temptation to become sycophantic, opportunist and lying, like a politician who sees the truth but wants to keep his place in popular favour.
Ego as the representative of Eros and the potential target of death instincts
-> through the process of identification and sublimation carried out by ego
-> at the same time, ego is faced by the aggressive libido(superego) released by the defusion brought by the sublimation
Ego as the actual seat of anxiety and fear
What it is that the ego fears from the external and from the libidinal danger cannot be specified; we know that the fear is of being overwhelmed or annihilated, but it cannot be grasped analytically. The ego is simply obeying the warning of the pleasure principle. On the other hand, we can tell what is hidden behind the ego's dread of the super-ego, the fear of conscience. The superior being ,which turned into the ego ideal, once threatened castration, and this dread of castration is probably the nucleus round which the subsequent fear of conscience has gathered; it is this dread that persists as the ear of conscience.
Every fear is ultimately the fear of castration
Every anxiety is ultimately the anxiety of separation