Psychic helplessness

According to Freud, this is the state which produces anxiety in early infancy and which mirrors the physical reactions (high pulse rate, rise in blood pressure and so on) which were responses to the unpleasant sensations of birth. In contrast to anxiety in later life produced in response to some clear danger, psychic helplessness occurs when needs (food, warmth) which the infant is powerless to gratify remain unanswered. Psychic helplessness reduces as the ego matures, and persists only in certain situations which may be related to a particular neurosis.