In Margaret Naumberg's stages, repression is paired with which descriptor?

• A. buried ID
• B. Channeling
• C. Finding a symbol that best represents
• D. Transferring emotions

Answer: (A)

Repression involves pushing uncomfortable or instinctual impulses out of conscious awareness. In Naumberg’s framework, those hidden drives are linked to the id—the part of the psyche that holds primal urges—so repressing them leaves them buried deep in the unconscious. Describing repression as buried id emphasizes that the material trying to surface in art comes from those primitive, instinctual roots rather than from conscious thought. When a client creates art that hints at basic, undeveloped themes or impulses, it can be seen as the unconscious id surfacing in symbolic form. This is different from channeling energy into a process, finding a symbol that represents something conceptually, or transferring emotions onto a person or object, which reflect other mechanisms or stages in the therapeutic process.