That in this masculine protest, however, there lies for the neurotic the more fundamentally compensating "will to power" which may change the value of feelings and even transform pleasure into pain is proved by the frequent cases where the direct effort to act like a man meets with obstacles and avails itself of a circuitous route, in which event the role of the woman is overvalued, passive traits are strengthened, masochistic, and in men, passive homosexual traits emerge, by means of which the patient hopes to gain power over men and women : in short, the masculine protest makes use of the feminine role in order to attain its purpose.
The greatest difficulty which stand in the way of an understanding of the neurosis arises from the striking protection afforded these inferior, effeminate traits and their acknowledgment by the patients. Here belong all the phenomena of the disease generally, but also the passive, masochistic traits, the effeminate characteristics, the passive homosexuality, impotence, suggestibility, accessibility to and inclination for hypnosis, or, finally, the apparent surrender to effeminacy and to effeminate behavior. The final object, however, always remains the same, the domination over others which is felt and appreciated as a masculine triumph.
In this developed neurosis the sexual appetite is frequently directed to children, persons of low station, maids; homosexuality, perverse inclinations or inclinations to masturbation are constructed and adhered to because the patient hopes thus more easily to master the situation. For the fear of a woman hinders a natural sexual relation to such an extent that the neurotic in order to avoid the defeat of which he stands in fear, arrives at the expedient of ejaculatio precox, of pollutions, and of impotence.
In neuroses homosexuality even when carried into practice is always found to be a symbol by means of which it is sought to place the individual's own superiority beyond question. This mechanism is similar to that of a religious psychosis in which the nearness of God has the significance of an elevation.
— Alfred Adler, 1921, "The Neurotic Constitution"