It is probable that the chief practical gain that may result from the study of the psychology of the family will ensue more or less directly from the mere increase in understanding of the nature of, and interactions between, the mental processes that are involved in the family relationships. As in most matters in which the Unconscious plays a leading part, knowledge is here perhaps more than usually akin to virtue. A fuller grasp of the essential character of the unconscious tendencies that are aroused within the family circle makes possible, and naturally leads up to, an important and far-reaching readjustment of our views and our behaviour, and a readjustment of such a kind as could scarcely be brought about by any other means. When we have brought to consciousness the hidden motives that lurk in the buried strata of our mind, our practical judgment and our reason have a grasp of the psychic situation of such a kind as was before impossible; and very often the true course to be steered appears with unmistakable clearness before our vision as the result of our increased self-knowledge. This is only an instance of what so frequently--one might say generally--occurs as the result of psycho-analysis; not only in the case of psycho-analytic research into the processes of the individual mind, but also to some extent in the case of the general treatment of a problem or a situation upon psycho-analytic lines. That too is the reason why, in the present case, the practical conclusions to be drawn from our considerations have to a very large extent emerged of themselves in the course of these considerations and have in the main become evident to us without any further procedure being necessary to elicit them. [Sidenote: The two chief processes demanding ethical consideration]