Classical Freudian psychoanalysis assumes that mental disorder is due to contradictory and irreconcilable wishes and beliefs on the part of the sufferer. Freud and some of his followers conceived of these conflicts as generally occurring between instinctual (sexual and aggressive) desires, an awareness of the constraints of reality, and moral imperatives. Put in Freudian terminology, there is an emotional clash of, for example, the id versus the ego or the ego versus the superego. This internal conflict is difficult to resolve in the face of a pro-active id, and opposing superego, and a resulting weak ego. If the conflict is not resolved, then the person suffer the sense of helplessness and anxiety.
See Ego, Id, Instinct (2), Psychoanalysis, Superego