Freud, Mowrer. and the
Problem of Anxiety
C LERGYMEN and clinical psychologists and psychiatrists are coping with the growing ~ r o b l e m of neurotic and psychotic
behavior. But in past decades those theologically oriented and those
scientificially trained have not been able to attack this problem in
a spirit of mutual confidence. More often than not, psychology
charges that religion is prescriptive without being diagnostic, while
religion charges that psychology is diagnostic without being pre-
scriptive. Today, however, there are signs which indicate a possi-
ble reconcilia tion be tween religion and ps!~chology.
Many feel that there is a healthy rapprochemc~zt begin-
ning between two groups which for years not only had
been separated by lack of mutual interest and communi-
cation but have in some instances shown sus icious, re-
other.
6 sentful, disctainful, or actively hostile attitu es to each
Forsaking the Freudian approach, a new school of psycholog-
ists, led b!, men like Erich Fromin, 0. Hobart Rlowrer, Moreno,
Sullivan, Stckel, and others, has arisen which espouses a view of
the cause and curc of ansiety which promises at least a partial re-
conciliation bet~veen psychology and religion. I t is the intent of
this paper to examine this new view to point out its positive as well
as its negative features.
. As a point of departure, and by way of contrast, it will serve
our purpose to exanline briefly the Freudian approach, which since
the c i ~ d of the nineteenth century has dominated the field of psy-
choanalytic technique. To understand both Freud and Mowrer
it is necessary to clarify the concepts of the id, the ego, and the
superego. kieidbreder defines the id as
. . . the deepest and most primitive part of the person-
ality. It is profound, obscure, unconscious, and power-
ful' . . . the id, though powerful, is quite without
perception; it is unmoral, unenlightened, imperious, and
rash. Seeking only the pleasures of the moment, it de-
mands its satisfactions insistently and blindly.2
Freud, illowrcr, and the Probletn of Anxiety 3 5
-
are
lotic
pre-
log-
no,
of
re-
of
{ell
rve
Ice
SY-
rer
fie
The id is often called the sum total of the instiilctual drives. The
superego is the sum total of all of the laws established by God or
man, parents, society, or e.c7en the self-imposed laws of the individ-
ual. It is the artificial self we feel we ought to be because of the
introjection of the parental vetoes, as Freud called it, plus the in-
herited conventions of ~ o c i e t y . ~ The ego is reallv the will of the
individual. I t endeavors to manipulate the environment and to
regulate the id with reference to it. The ego seems to correspond
quite closely to the mill of the individual.
Freud maintained that conflict is produced when the blind but
insistent demands of the id are vetoed by the demands of the super-
ego, which acts like a policeman in its relationship with the id.
Because Freud found that sexual difficulties lay behind the neuroses
of a high percentage of his patients, sexual experience was for Freud
the clue to neurosis. When a person finds that tlle superego will
not permit the id to carry out its drives, the ego supresses the id
and consciously denies the existence of the repressed instinctual
drives.
R. S. PVoodworth regards the two theories of repression and
infantile sexuality as the twin pillars on which the Freudian hypo-
thesis rests. He says:
If we put the two theories together, we have in a nutshell
the fundamentals of Freud's psychology . . . the import-
ance of repression, the importance of sex desire and the
importance of the infantile period are Freud's three main
emphases . . . a neurosis originates in repressed infan-
tile sexuality -that is his main proposition. "
NOW, when because of fear of the oppressive superego, these
libidinal drives are repressed, they avenge themselves by mental
symptoms of anxiety, or fear, or physical ~yrnptorns.~ The anxiety
becomes disassociated with the original fear and becomes a free-
floating general condition of the patient.'
Since the cause of the anxiety remains out of reach of the con-
scious mind of the patient, Freud turned to the search of the un-
conscious mind in an effort to bring it to consciousness. His method
was that of free association and interpretation of dreams.
Freud's method aims at recovering to consciousness the
repressed material in the unconscious mind. In that vast
depth are stored, he teaches, all the memories of the past,
right back to the hour of birth, and perhaps before that.
I$ hen these memories have reached coi~sciousness, been
re-lived again so as to express their cillotiollal content, the
patient can the better adjust himself to life, for his inner-
emotional abscess has discharged its poison-to use a
psychological figurc-and he can guard against recur-
rence because he sees the factors that formed it in the
first place.
The goal of thc psychoanalytic treatment is to have the
tient develop insight into the causes of his anxiety, to remout
fears by showing him how absurd the dema~lds of the superego
and to provide release for the instinctual drives.
Today Freud's approach to the problelll of anxiety is b
seriously criticized. His basic supposition that anxiety results j
the suppression of instinctual drivcs is seriously que~t ioned .~
perience demonstrates that some who practice continence are (
tional stable, while, at times, libertines are filled with ans
But nlore seriously, Freud is charged with promulgating a cloct
of social irresponsibility which has penetrated deeply into our
ture. In a recent book Richard LaPiere, a sociologist, dcclares
the Freudian cthic has penetratcd deeply into our culture an
charactcrizcd by individual passivity and irresponsibility, reflel
-
in thc pcrlllissive home, progressive school, and other agencies,
adopted in the new middle class, modern guildisnl, political nl:
nalisin, and the security goal. He declares that while the Freut
ethic aboullds in such terms as guilt feelings, personal insecu~
frustration, aggressive tendencies, traumas, there is a total
S ~ I I C C of S U C ~ I tcr111s, " . . . prominent in the protestant ethic
self-confidence, personal integrity, self-rcliance, responsibility."'
Finally, Freud is to be condemned for his antipathy to
values of Christianity. To him religion is nothing less than
ul~iversal obsessional neurosis of humanity. In his book,
Future of nlz Zllzrsion, he says:
Thus rcli~ion ivould be the universal obscssional neurosis
of humanity. It, like the child's, originated in the Oedipus
colnplex, the relation to the father. According to this
coiiception one nligllt prophesy that the abandoning of re-
ligion must take place with the fateful inexorability of a
process of growth, and that we are just now in the middle
of this phase of de~e lopment .~~
Freud, hdowrer, and the Proble~n of Anxiety 3 7
e pa-
e his
are,
~eing
fro111
Ex-
emo-
;iet\l.
trine
cul- i
1 that I
id is +
:ctetl
and
atcr-
dian
ritv,
a b-
:, as
10
the
the
The
You have to defend the religious illusioil with all your
might; if it were discredited-and to be sure it is suffici-
ently menaced-then your \vorlcl ~vould collapse, there
\rlould be nothing left for you but to despair of everything,
of culture, and of the future of mankind. Froill this
bondage I am, we are, free. Since we are prepared to re-
nounce a good part of our infantile wishes, we can bear
it if soille of our expectations prove to be illusions. l2
0. Hobart R40wrer1s approach to the cause and cure of anxiety
is, in many respects, the very antithesis of tlie Freudian view. His
major premise is that man is a respoilsible subject. He points out
that Inan is able to weigh the future against the immediate conse-
quences of his action. This gives illan flexibility and freedom
and, by inference, responsibility. In this sense man differs from
the animal. Addressing the convention of the Anlerican Psychologi-
cal Association in Cincinnati recently, Dr. Rlowrer declared: "The
idea that man can have the benefits of an orderly social life without
paying for it through restraints and sacrifices is a subversive doc-
6 I t r i n e . " l ~ o l l o May correctly concludes that for R4on~rer . . . the
problem of neurotic anxiety is placed squarely in its cultural and
historical nexus, and is related specifically to man's distinctive prob-
lems of social responsibility and ethics."li
Neurotic symptonls develop not as a result of too little self-
indulgence and satisfaction or from the suppression of the demands
of the id, but from irresponsibility, from ignoring or suppressing
the denlands of the superego. Anxiety arises froill the repudiation
of moral feelings, froin a lack of ego strength. To put it quite
simply, neurotic syn~ptoms arise from sin. Using the analogy of
the child-parent relationship Mowrer explains his positioil thus:
So long as a child is good, his parents are benign and
loving and the child is comfortable; but when the child is
bad, the parents become punitive and the child knows no
rest. Only when the child once more takes it upon him-
self to do as he is supposed to do can he hope to find
peace, freedom, an amity in his relations with the parents.
Translating this early interpersonal trauma into the
intrapsychic events of later life, ego and superego (as the
legatee of parental authority) are harmonious only when
the ego obeys or, perhaps more accurately, anticipates
(ho11ors) the demands of superego. When there is an
ego failure, superego takes matters "into its own hands,"
in a manner analogous to the way parents "take over"
when the child, as they say, fails them; an amity is re-
established only when ego (or child) again accepts the
responsibilities that are regarded as its proper portion. ''
TO Mowrer the return to the doctrine of sin is imperz
He declares, ". . . we have disavowed the connection bet1
man and his misconduct and we have also
largely abandoned helief in right and wrong, virtue a n d si
Stekel agrees with h;lowrer.
On the basis of his rich clinical experience, Stekel also
formed the opinion that in the precipitation of the typi-
cal compulsive syndrome the breakdown of the parental
moral authority plays the central role, and that the corn-
pulsion-neurotic structure centers around traumatic se-
crets conilectcd with this "complex of shattered authority."
Menlories related to the traumatic events are never really
forgotten but annulled, pushed aside, as it were by the
neurotic affects and preoccupations. ';
RIowrer coiltinues by showing that a man cannot sin
impunity. Sin, as hc conceives it, is a break with sincerity;
an abrogation of humail intimacy, integrity, honesty, and fai
It is the estrangement of the individual from those whom Sull
calls "the significant others."lg And sin breeds a sense of g
Guilt, in turn, breeds fear, fear of detection and fear of pur
ment.
Both ys!*chologists and pastors agree that the sense of j
plays a large part in neurotic behavior. I t is at the bottom of rr
anxiety states. \\.'catherhead distinguishes three kinds of gl
1) Normal guilt-the scnse of sin which follows wrong do
2) Exaggerated co~lscious guilt-the intolerable burden which
lows sonle incident, thc guilt of which has been exaggerated ou
all proportion; and 3) Repressed guilt-"The feelings of 5
\vhich have been repressed into the unconscious because they
so objectionable to the consciousness."20
Schizophrenic patients arc victims of this repressed g~
I-li~rricd by fear of detection and punishment, they lapse into n
ism, bizarre behavior, and self-rehearsed stratagems. A grad1
student of psychology, hiinself a schizophrenic, has defined
schizoid persolialitp thus :
. . . he is a terrified, conscience-stricken crook, who h a s
rul)ressed his illierest in people, unavowedly insincere
Freud, itlozorcr, and the Probk t~z of Atzxiety 39
!
i
ative. i !
ween
very '
in."16
with
i t is
th. Is
ivan
;uilt.
lish- '
iany
ailt :
are
uilt.
nut-
uate
the
and uncooperative, struggling against unconscious sexual
perversion. He is of no mean Thespian ability. And his
favorite commandment is that wl~ich one nowadays faceti-
ously calls the eleventh commanclment, "Thou shalt not
get caught." 21
If the cause of anxiety is guilt produced by the loss of illoral
integrity, the cure lies in helping the individual to develop a sense
of community, openness and relatioi~ship." T o put the matter
another way, if anxiety has resulted from ego weakness, the cure
lies in developing ego strength within the individual so that he
will comport hiinself in a manner acceptable to the demands of the
superego. Alexander says, "The ego's integrative function is the
basis of the regenerative process in the field of personality disor-
d e r ~ . " ' ~ The supportive therapy is not to be aimed at freeing the
individual from a supposedly uilrealistic and traumatical superego,
as Freud taught. I t rather endeavors to help the individual to do
the things he realistically should do and not do the things he rcalis-
tically should not do. ''
In this prograin of strcilgthening the ego, thc counselor p l q s
a more significant role than Freud would allo.tr7. R/fo~vrer and his
school emphasize that the contact between the anxiety victim and
the counselor should be a inutual and collaborative one. Cholden
says, "Our ability and interest in empathizing hold significant
meaning for the patient. Ferenczi is quoted as having said, 'It's
not so bad being crazy, if someone goes along ~vllo knows the way
backsf "25 In a similar vein Whitehorn declares:
Our obscrvations, already reported in some detail, Icd
us to state that in the psychotherapy of schizophrenic
patients, improvement seems to be determined, in large
measure, . . . bv the differences found among physicians
in tEc extent to which they are able to approach their
patients' problems in a personal way, gain a trusted,
confidential relationship and participate in an active per-
sonal way i n the patients' reorientation to personal rela-
tionships. Techniques of passive permissi~:eness or efforts
to develop insight by interpretation appear to have much
less psychotherapeutic value. 36
The function of the counselor is indeed to attempt to help the
anxious soul find insight into the cause of his anxiety. But Mowrer,
unlike Freud, says that the development of insight is not sufficient.
The individual must learn to act as a responsible subject in sc
In attempting to provide the anxious soul with the necessar
strength, Mowrer advocates a number of methods. The f i ~
these is self-therapy. Moreno declares that this method is I
tially a self-cure through self-realization and integration into
He indicates that convincing historical illustrations of this mi
are to be found among famous personages like Jesus, Buddh;
Francis. 27 Another form of self-help is bibliotherapy. Mc
avers that a careful study of what ordinary people find helpf
reading might be highly suggestive as to what it is that the fr;
sick person is seek in^.'^ Building on the principle that peop
not get well in analysis, but in life, Mowrer also favors group the
Group psychotherapy has received recognition because
it satisfies certain needs which the individual therapies
cannot satisfy. We live from birth on in groups. Dis-
turbances which are conditioned in a large measure by
the world around us cannot be resolved unless the milieu
is lllade a part of the therapeutic situation and treated
simultaneously. Group psychothcrapy approxiinates more
closely the natural setting in which people live. This
does not mcan that individual methods of therapy have
not their usefulness, but group psychotherapy includes
them and opens up a new vista. The individual is not
treated in isolation, but in situ, in the context in which
he is found: in the family, in the workshop, in the com-
mul-lity, or in clinics as lnembers of synthetic groups.2g
The validity of group therapy is substantiated by the fact
in World Wars I and I1 and in the Korean conflict the treatr.
of coiilbat casualties in or near the combat zone proved to be r
effective than the results with patients evacuated to the re,
This experience seems to underscore the value of the therape
community for the anxious soul. Here Mowrer sees the valul
the cot~gregation as a therapeutic agent.
Another article in hiowrer's creed is that "It is easier to
yourself into n new way of thinking than to think yourself in1
new way of acting."" "A person gets well of emotional difficu,
not just by being treated by others, but by himself being a 'hell
! '732 person. Alcoholics ~ i n o n ~ m o u s and Narcotics Anonymous :
port the tr~itll that one helps himself by helping others. for
Schcr reports an esperiinent in which patients in a mental hosc
were required to perform certain tasks and in tvhich obedience
i
i lciety, I
rst of
essen-
1 life.
ethod !
a, st, 1
Owrer ,
'ul in
ankly
le do
that
nent
nore
ar. 2o
%tic
e of
act
to a
lties
ping
sup-
d a n
~i tal
ivas
Frezrd, Moturer, and the Problem of Anxiety 4 1
insisted upon. "The results of this experiment in responsibility
ivere significant. Thc patients put out a newspaper, a number of
them became well enough to return to normal society. Assaulted-
iless progressively decreased. The patients took up interest in their
appearance." ""
Moreno sunlmarizes the advance that has been made in treat-
ing the anxious in the following manner:
Fro111 the patient on the couch, to the patieint in the
chair, to the patient on his feet, and, finally to the patient
able to act-out and integrate his initial and external rela-
tionships i ~ t vivo, a considerable part of tlle psychothera-
peutic movement since the beginning of the century can
be charted. On the other hand, from the analyst as a
black screen, to the middle-of-the-road, more active psy-
chotherapist (Adler, Stekel), to the openly participating
and integrating psychodranlatist, a long way has been
trodden. 34
How shall we assess the position of Mowrer with respect to
the cause and cure of anxiety? Certainly we can see a number of
elements with which we agree. Mowrer hin~self feeIs that there
is a close connection between his view and that of religion. Con-
cluding his stucly he says:
If our present analysis is valid, religion is perhaps the
most powerful device ever discovered for making the un-
conscious conscious, in the sense of replacing conlpulsion
(sin, neurosis) with choice (integration, volition, self-
direction). 3j
Certainly we can agree with Mowrer on the following points:
That man is a responsible creature, that sin is the cause of anxiety,
that sin breeds guilt, that a counselor should be a cooperative, help-
ing other, that living altruistically is to be referred to living selfish-
ly, and that there is value in viewing the church as a helping
community.
But klowrer is to be criticized because he fails to make room
for God in his explanation both of the cause and of the cure of
anxiety. Froin the Christian point of view this failure is fatal.
Health is the complete and successful functioning of
every part of the human being, in harmonious relation-
ship with every other part and with his relevent en.crii-on-
inent . . . and for Christians the name of that environ-
illeilt is the God whom Christ revealed. 36
Jn his excellent book, Counseling and Theology, Hulme argues
man callnot be separated from his relationship with God. H
clares :
Sincc the sting of guilt is in the separation it produces
between an individual and his God, the adequacy of any
non-religious solution to this probleln is doubtful. I t
\vould fail to meet the deeper lel7eI of anxiety that grows
out of the break between inan a i ~ d his Creator, which can
never bc basically dispersed at the upper levels of human
relationships. 3i
This exclusion of God in i\llo~t-rer's thinking is a serious f
because it discredits the fact that man lives under the judgiiien
God because of sin. To say that sin is only social insiilcerit
to fail to rcalizc the deeper consequences of sin in terms of
estrangen~ent froill God. Furthermore, conversioil is infini
inore than making a truce with one's fellon~men. It is f u n d a m
ally getting right with God, by turning from self-will and s
rule to a life ia Christ under the will of God. Again, in R ~ O . ( Y ~ \
view thcre is no room for the concept of forgiveness in the Scriptu
sense. No man can find peace for his guilt except he find pei
with God through Christ. Otherwise hc remains without God a
without hope in this \vorld and in the world to come. For thc
reasons we I ~ I L I S ~ conclude that though hlowrer approaches some
the basic concepts of the Christian message, his view is still 1
from the I(ingdon.1.
I-Iowever, a study of his position does alert the pastor a1
preacher to his task. If it is true that there is wide-spread anxie
in the world, the11 we ought to view the sermon as a medium f
mass counseling and preach sermons that are therapeutic in chara
ter. This is not to say that we are not to preach doctrine, but
does underscore the thought that we ought not to preach doctrir
for doctrine's sake, but always preach it in lively rapport with h~
mail need.
In the second place, klo\vrer's view reminds us that the stapl
of our preaching ought to be lam and gospel, sin and grace. 1.
fact, I once heard Mowrer charge modernistic pulpits with mon
strous truancy for neglecting the preaching of these basic scriptura
truths.
4 3
\
Frezrd, Mo~t~rer, the Probleln of Anxiety
In preaching the lam Ive ought to emphasize the fact that Inan that
is a responsible subject before God. His very creatureliness makes [e de-
hinl accountable to God. Furthermore, sin ought to be preached
for what it has alwavs been, rebellion against the just demands of
God- Again, sin ought to be preached in terms of its consequences.
Sill brings guilt up011 the individual and the just punishment of a
1101>- God.
fauIt
nt of
ty is
Ian's
itely
lent-
self-
rer's
ural
eace
and
1ese
2 of
far
and
jet!?
for
-ac-
t it
ine
hu-
PI^
In
)n -
ral
But in rapport with the preaching of the law must be the
oosyel of the infinite grace of God who commended his love toward a
us i n that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. No guilt-
riddell soul can find rest until in repentance he turns from sin in
oenuine sorrow and accepts by faith the love of God in Christ. b
Only in the knowledge that he is not under the law but under grace
can the guilty soul find rest.
The doctrine of justification satisfies the need of the in-
dividual for acceptailce (forgiveness); and for acceptance
as he is (by grace); and in acceptance he may claim as
his own (through faith). No pastor who has witnessed
the power of this doctrine in leading another Luther out
of his prison house of guilt into the free air of redemp-
tive grace can ever doubt that it is fundamental not only
to a system of theology but also to pastoral co~~nseling.~"
Nor should the preacher underestin~ate the power of the Word
of God both in his preaching and pastoral care. It is the power
of God because through it the Hoiy Spirit accomplishes his work
of convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, of re-
creating the guilty soul as a child of God at peace with God. This
regenerating power of the Holy Spirit gives the individual the ego
strength he needs. Once the sinner realizes the mercy of God for
him in Christ, the Spirit of God continues to work in him to will
and to do God's will.
Of significance, too, is Mowrer's emphasis on the congrega-
tion as a helping community. The pastor ought to view his con-
gregation not simply as a collection of individuals but rather as the
body of Christ, in which the strong bear the infirmities of the weak,
i n which they share their faith with one another, strengthening one
another in the Christian way. Certainly our Bible classes and con-
gregational organizations can do much to make the congregation
the sort of helping community i t can be. Furthermore, the
gregation offers every individual the opportunity for the necl
and healthful program of service to Christ and his church.
Finally, every pastor ought to remember that the persc
the counselor is more important than his method. Each of U
reason to pray daily for the gift of the Holy Spirit that we marl
with people with some of the loving concern of Jesus for those
labor and are heavy laden.
NOTES
1. Paul E. Mcehl, et. RE., What , Then, is Man? (St. Louis, 1958), p.
2. Edna Heirlbreder, Seven Psychologies (New York, 1933), p. 398.
3. Lcslie Weatherhcad, Psychology, Religion, and Healing, (New 1
1952), pp. 263f.
4. Ibid.
5. R. S. Woodworth, Corzte7nporary Schools ~f Psychology (Ronald P
1931), quotcd in Lcslie W'eathcrhead, op. cit . , pp. 275f.
6. Wcatherhead, op. cit., p. 252.
7. Rollo May, The Meaning o f Anxiety (New York, 1950), p. 116. L
Frcud rcvcrsed himself by saying that the repression docs not crcate
anxicty; ansicty is there first; thcn comes repression. Cfr. Sigm
Freud, New 1ntroducto1-y Lectures in Psyclzonnalysis (New York, 19:
p. 119.
8. Weatherhead, op. cit., p. 262.
9. Cfr . Waync Oatcs, Anxiety in Christian Experience (Philadelp
1955), who Iists other causcs for anxiety: Economic anxiety, Finit
anxiety, Anxiety of grief, Legalistic anxiety.
10. Richard La Picre, The Frezcdian Ethic (New York, 1959), pp. 63f.
11. Sigmund Freud, The F2lture of an Illusion, p. 7 6 quoted in 0. H. :
nrrer, Psychorr~znlysis and Religion: A Partial Reconciliation (Champai
1957), p. 7.
12. Ibid., p. 95.
13. "Sin and Psychology," Time, LXXIV, 69.
14. hlap, op. cit., p. 116.
1 5 . 0. llobart Mowrer, Psychoanalysis and Religion: A Paztial Reco~gci~
tion, p. 28 .
16. "Sin and Phychology," op. cit., p. 69.
Frezrd, illotvt-er, and the Problenl o f Anxiety 4 5
1
2 con- 17. I'rogl-css i n P ~ ? ~ c l ~ o t k c r a ~ ~ , F. Fromm-Reichman and 3. L. I\Ioreno, e d ~ . (KenT York, 1 9 5 6 ) , p- 137 quoted in 0. H. hlowrrr, Ncll.. Perspectives
essary in Psychotherapy (Champaign, 19 57), pp. ?sf.
1s. ;\.do\\:rer, NCW Perspectires i n Ps~clzotlrcrapy, p. 9. hlowrer's views pa-
rallel those of Soren I