24,656
edits
Changes
no edit summary
In [[psychodynamics]], '''cathexis''' is defined as the process of investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea. This concept was developed by [[Sigmund Freud]] in 1922. In [[psychoanalysis]], cathexis is the [[libido]]'s charge of energy. Freud often described the functioning of psychosexual energies in mechanical terms, influenced perhaps by the dominance of the [[steam engine]] at the end of the [[19th century]]. In this manner, he also tended to think of the libido as a producer of energies.
If an individual is frustrated in his libidinal desires, Freud often represented this frustration as a blockage of energies that would then build up and require release in other ways. This release could occur, for example, by way of [[regression]] and the "re-cathecting" of former positions (i.e. [[fixation]] at the [[oral fixation|oral phase]] or [[anal fixation|anal phase]] and the enjoyment of former sexual objects ["object-cathexes"], including [[autoeroticism]]).
When the [[ego]] blocks such efforts to discharge one's cathexis by way of [[regression]], i.e. when the ego wishes to [[repression|repress]] such [[desire]]s, Freud uses the term "[[anticathexis|anti-cathexis]]" or counter-charge. Like a steam engine, the libido's cathexis then builds up until it finds alternative outlets, which can lead to [[sublimation (psychology)|sublimation]] or to the formation of sometimes disabling symptoms.
==def==
The libido's charge of energy. Freud often described the functioning of psychosexual energies in mechanical terms, influenced perhaps by the dominance of the steam engine at the end of the nineteenth century. He often described the libido as the producer of energies that, if blocked, required release in other ways. If an individual is frustrated in his or her desires, Freud often represented that frustration as a blockage of energies that would then build up and require release in other ways: for example, by way of regression and the "re-cathecting" of former positions (ie. fixation at the oral or anal phase and the enjoyment of former sexual objects ["object-cathexes"], including auto-eroticism). When the ego blocks such efforts to discharge one's cathexis by way of regression, i.e. when the ego wishes to repress such desires, Freud uses the term "anti-cathexis" or counter-charge. Like a steam engine, the libido's cathexis then builds up until it finds alternative outlets, which can lead to sublimation or to the formation of sometimes disabling symptoms.
<references/>
== See also ==
* [[Psychoanalysis]]
* [[Psychodynamics]]
[[category:Freudian psychology]]
[[Category:Lacan]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
