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[[Guilt ]] represents a [[sensation ]] of intrapsychic tension, sometimes linked to apprehension of a catastrophic [[threat ]] to oneself. It may also be [[manifest ]] as humility, [[suffering]], the [[need ]] for [[punishment]], [[remorse]], and [[feelings ]] of inadequacy.

According to [[Jean Laplanche ]] and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis ([[1968]]), the term describes an emotional [[state ]] that arises in consequence of some [[action ]] that the [[subject ]] considers reprehensible; it may also refer to a vague [[feeling ]] of personal unworthiness, unconnected to any [[particular ]] act.

The "[[sense ]] of guilt" appeared for the first [[time ]] in [[Freud]]'s [[work ]] in his article, "Obsessive Actions and [[Religious ]] Practices" (1907b); however, he had previously suggested its outlines in the second section of his "The Neuro-[[Psychoses ]] of [[Defence]]." (1894a) Freud distinguished two sources of the [[sense of guilt]]: [[fear ]] of [[authority ]] and fear of the [[superego]]. The former compels [[renunciation ]] of some instinctive pressure or action, while in the latter, [[internalization ]] of parental authority initiates [[development ]] of the superego. One of the functions of this [[agency ]] (the superego), which is [[responsible ]] for the evaluation and judgment of the actions of the ego, is known as [[moral ]] [[conscience ]] (1923b). [[Aggression ]] stemming from this moral conscience prolongs and intensifies the aggression experienced from authority. Under the influence of the sense of guilt, the ego submits to the superego's [[demands]], out of fear of losing its affection and protection. According to Freud, there is a link between the sense of guilt and the [[Oedipus ]] [[complex]].

[[Anxiety ]] occasioned by [[loss ]] (or potential loss) of the loved [[object ]] is not the only manifestation of the sense of guilt. There is also the potential for [[psychic ]] [[pain ]] and suffering; excessive humility; repeated failures and regrets; constant asking for penitence, expiations, and renunciation; suicidal [[ideas]]; and the tendency toward [[self]]-punishment.

Melanie [[Klein ]] ([[1948]]), like Freud, also saw a direct [[relationship ]] between the sense of guilt and fundamental [[ambivalence ]] arising from the [[life ]] and [[death ]] [[instincts]]. She stressed that this feeling not only appears in the [[oedipal ]] [[conflict]], but also in the very earliest relationships with the nourishing [[mother]]. In her description, damaged intrapsychic [[objects ]] become persecutors.

In [[Civilization ]] and Its Discontents (1930a), Freud described how the sense of guilt, together with the methods and mechanisms used to [[struggle ]] against it, influence the [[individual]]'s relationships, not only with their immediate [[family]], but also [[other ]] relationships within the larger [[social ]] group, and even with civilization as a [[whole]]. One of the principal aims of [[psychoanalysis ]] is therefore to [[understand ]] how [[patients ]] manage their guilt, for example, to understand the extent to which they can accept ambivalence and [[responsibility ]] in the face of [[instinctual ]] strivings and the feelings that generate guilt. The discovery that patients harbor feelings of both [[love ]] and [[hate ]] for their [[parents ]] underscores the importance of guilt as a nodal area of [[personality ]] development. In the first years of life, the specific ways that [[children ]] respond to guilt may predispose [[them ]] to [[neurosis ]] and [[mental ]] instability, but may also prove to be a source of success and fulfillment.

Klein (1945/1975), in opposition to Freud, attempted to show, through observation of children in [[analysis]], that the superego emerges much earlier than Freud suggested. According to her views, the [[Oedipus complex ]] also appears much earlier, during the first six months of life. The essential [[nature ]] of the sense of guilt resides in the young [[child]]'s impression that its own [[experience ]] of [[aggressive ]] instincts have caused hurt to the love object. The [[desire ]] to undo or to repair this damage derives from the sense of guilt.

To the extent that guilt may be said to reflect, or result from, discordance between the ego and superego, emergence of the latter implies the ineluctable [[appearance ]] of the sense of guilt.

See also: Criminology and psychoanalysis; Death [[instinct ]] ([[Thanatos]]); "Dostoyevski and [[Parricide]]"; Guilt, [[unconscious ]] sense of; [[Law and psychoanalysis]]; [[Melancholy]]; Moral [[masochism]]; [[Need for punishment]]; Self-punishment; Superego.[[Bibliography]]