Toward a unified conception of the origins of sexual and social deviancy in young persons.

Abstract

This paper is based on the empirical evidence that social and sexual deviancy in young persons often succeed on one another, alternate repeatedly, or occur concomitantly. The role of the superego and the relationship of acting out and symptomatic acts to both conditions are explored. States of excitement, tension, and discharge in young persons are described. The scanty but important literature on excitement is reviewed, and the role of this affect in the causation of both deviances is examined in some detail. The occurrence of early fantasies associated with (primary) excitement on a background of early psychic disturbance and environmental failure, common to both deviations, is compared with excitement in later stages of development. The fantasies that accompany physiological and psychological changes at puberty and adolescence provoke arousal and excitation, which is defended against with boredom and depression, which in turn leads to a search for (secondary) excitement. This process is illustrated by several clinical examples drawn from case material of patients treated with psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Finally, the implications for treatment of a unified approach to the problem of social and sexual deviancy in young people is briefly explored.