Freud held an epigenetic view of personality development; each stage of personality growth must be experienced and built upon the foundation established during the previous stage. In his view, over indulgence or deprivation associated with infantile attempts to cope with the developmental issues at each psychosexual stage could result in partial arrest of ego development. In this manner the ego may become partially fixated at one or more levels of development and never develop the capacity to appropriately discharge libidinal tensions beyond the level of primary fixation. These deficits in ego development are cumulative in effect, and may grossly impair the individual's ability to appropriately discharge instinctual tensions. Freud believed that instinctual energy is damned up as a result of each ego fixation (arrest of psychological development at a particular stage) so that each occurrence leaves less energy available for coping with later tasks. He believed that past fixations have an unconscious prototypic influence on the present. In effect, the amount and levels of blocked libido are considered primary determinants of personality types and the associated predispositions to develop particular patterns of emotional disorder.
             Anxiety is understood as a signal experienced by the individual when unconscious aspects of ego function recognize the threat of the build up of unintegrated instinctual forces. The adult ego maybe highly developed with regard to affectively neutral cognitive tasks but remain relatively primitive and undeveloped in those areas associated with the content of early fixations. Anxiety is a signal to the ego that it is in danger of being overwhelmed by repressed instinctual forces associated with the developmental issues left unresolved by earlier ego fixations. Freud described a number of defense mechanisms that characterize the ego's attempt to deny, block, distort, or re-rout these repressed impulses...