Monday 11 October 2010

The Return of the Repressed - Sigmund Freud.

'The Return of the Repressed' is the process whereby repressed elements, preserved in the unconscious, tend to reappear, in consciousness or in behavior, in the shape of secondary and more or less unrecognizable "derivatives of the unconscious." Parapraxes or symptomatic actions, are examples of such derivatives.
Freud always emphasized the "indestructible" nature of unconscious material, as likewise the irreducible character of memory traces. If we have no memories of events during the first years of life, this is because of the repression that affects them. In a sense, all memories may be said to be retained, their recollection depending solely on the way in which they are cathected.

Parapraxes - A Freudian slip, or parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of some unconscious ('dynamically repressed') wish, conflict, or train of thought.

Cathected - Charged with mental or emotional energy.


1 comment:

  1. Freud thought we all have to repress some of our most primitive desires and emotions in order to take our place in society. So infant rages etc are repressed (we cannot recall our early childhood). Does horror allow us to experience these things again, in a safe context?

    ReplyDelete