Book excerpt: The lack of balance and the failure of regulation in life has traditionally been recognized in such extreme symbolic acts as overconscientiousness or a criminal lack of conscience. This volume shows how the neurotic process affects biologic functions, distorting natural functioning. Three distinct functions and their respective extremes are discussed: eating (obesity, bulimia nervosa), sleeping (insomnia, excessive somnolence), and sex (hypersexuality including child molestation, hyposexuality including inhibited sexual desires).