ABSTRACT
In the preceding discussions of both the psychoses and the psychoneuroses interpretations have been made, often tentatively, in terms of repressed or forgotten material. It was pointed out in the psychogenic interpretation of the distortions of thought that some more or less completely forgotten constellation of associated impressions, habits or aptitudes might be the cause of the distorted thinking. In the interpretation of obsessions and compulsive acts as well as in the many forms of hysteria it was shown that many interpreters find the cause in some suppressed complex or disturbing remnant of former experience of which the subject is now largely unaware. Obviously the cure of such disturbances, even temporary, depends upon the discovery of these repressed complexes or disturbing traces of former experience. If the sufferer is unable to recall any experience which might be the cause, then the psychologist or psychopathologist or psychoanalyst must seek such means as will be of aid in detecting the nature of the repressed material. If he can discover the probable nature of the repressed material he can then devise a mode of approach for arousing a memory of the actual experience or experiences which constitute the cause of the disturbance. Some of the methods devised seek more directly the disturbing material itself. In either event the examiner must avoid or release the inhibitions to recall, the censorship, as it has been termed.
