know himself and then change himself. He must gain insight
into his own mental processes and then systematically set to work to
change those processes that unfit him for life.

We shall later find that a detailed self-discovery through
psycho-analysis is not always necessary, and that a more general
understanding of oneself is sufficient for the milder kinds of
nervousness. But because of the promise which psycho-analysis holds
out to those stubborn cases before which other methods are powerless;
because of the invaluable understanding of human nature which it
places at the disposal of all nervous people, who may profit by its
findings without undergoing an analysis; and because of the flood of
light which it sheds on the motives, conduct, and character of every
human being, no educated person can afford to be without a general
knowledge of psycho-analysis.[41]

[Footnote 41: It is unfortunate that the records of an analysis are
too voluminous for use in so brief an account as this. Since the
report of one case would fill a book, and a condensed summary would
require a chapter, we must refer to some of the volumes which deal
exclusively with the psychoanalytic principles. For a list of these
books, see Bibliography.]

=A Chain of Associations.= Psycho-analysis is not, like hypnosis,
based on dissociation; it is based on the association of ideas. Its
main feature is a process of uncritical thinking called "free
association." To understand it, one must realize how intricately woven
together are the thoughts of a human being and how trivial are the
bonds of association between these ideas. One person reminds us of
another because his hair is the same color or because he handles his
fork in the same way. Two words are associated because they sound
alike. Two ideas are connected because they once occurred to us at the
same time. A subtle odor or a stray breeze serves to remind us of some
old experience. Connections that seem far-fetched to other people may
be quite strong enough to bind together in our minds ideas and
emotions which have once been associated, even unconsciously, in past
experience.

In this way, thoughts in consciousness and in the upper layers of the
subconscious are connected by a series of associations, forming links
in invisible chains that lead to the deepest, most repressed ideas.
Even a dissociated complex has some connection with the rest of the
mind, if we only have the patience to discover it.