The authors succeed in putting Freud's models of the mind into a historical and developmental framework and show the complexity of his thinking on the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind.

Preface , Foreword , Introduction , Foundations , The development of Freud's theory , Basic assumptions , First phase: the affect-trauma frame of reference , The affect-trauma model , Second phase: the topographical frame of reference , The organization of the mental apparatus , The system Unconscious , The system Preconscious , The system Conscious , Transference , Dream processes , Further aspects , Narcissism and object-love , Limitations and transition to the structural model , Third phase: the structural frame of reference , Characteristics , The three agencies , A final word