The main argument of this book is that psychoanalytic theory and prac­tice is structured by five threshold concepts, yet these principles are rarely understood—even by psychoanalysts themselves. In examining the original meanings of the pleasure principle, the primary processes, the unconscious, transference, and the reality principle, I hope to pro­vide a stable and clear ground for this important discipline. I will also focus on the many ways these core concepts are distorted and repressed. While the psychoanalyst must remain open and unbiased during treat­ment in order enable the uncensored free association of the...