In
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...
, decathexis is the withdrawal of
cathexis
In psychoanalysis, cathexis (or emotional investment) is defined as the process of allocation of mental or emotional energy to a person, object, or idea.
Origin of term
The Greek term ''cathexis'' (κάθεξις) was chosen by James Strach ...
from an idea or
instinctual object.
Decathexis is the process of dis-investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea.
Narcissism
In
narcissistic neurosis, cathexis is withdrawn from external instinctual objects (or rather their unconscious representations) and turned on the
ego – a process Freud highlighted in the
Schreber case, and linked to the subject's ensuing
megalomania.
A similar decathexis of energy has been linked to the emergence of symptoms of
hypochondriasis
Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. Hypochondria is an old concept whose meaning has repeatedly changed over its lifespan. It has been claimed that th ...
, as well as of
melancholia
Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...
.
André Green saw decathexis as the product of the
death drive
In classical psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, the death drive () is the Drive theory, drive toward destruction in the sense of breaking down complex phenomena into their constituent parts or bringing life back to its inanimate 'dead' state, often ...
, blanking out the possibility of thinking by a process of what he called de-objectilizing.
Grief
Decathexis of the lost person in grief was seen as a regular part of the mourning process by Freud, although later analysts have argued that such decathexis was rather the result of inhibited or partial mourning, not of successful mourning.
[Lora H. Tessman, ''The Analyst's Analyst Within'' (2003) p. 236-7]
See also
References
External links
*{{Cite journal, pmid=6544753, year=1984, last1=Furman, first1=R. A, title=Intermittent decathexis--a type of parental dysfunction, journal=The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, volume=65 ( Pt 4), pages=423–33, last2=Furman, first2=E
Psychoanalytic terminology
Freudian psychology