The child's fear of infanticide and the nuclear cause of the neuroses

The concept that the child is predisposed to the fear of infanticide, and that that fear may be the central cause of his psychological problems and the primary motive force of his defense, allows us to view the defensive process from a different perspective than that offered by Freud's nuclear theory. Children's fantasies make it apparent that the idealization of their parents' image, and the devaluation of their own, constitute their basic defense against their fear.