The psychoanalytic view of phobias. Part I: Freud's theories of phobias and anxiety.

This paper initiates a series of communications on psychoanalytic and current psychiatric approaches to the understanding and treatment of phobic syndromes with a review and discussion of Freud's evolving ideas on phobias and anxiety. A list of issues that any theory of phobic syndromes must address is compiled on the basis of Freud's work.