The theory of '[[repression]]' is one of the cornerstones of [[psychoanalysis]].
[[Repression]] occurs when impulses, wishes or memories, usually but not always of a sexual nature, that are bound up with the [[drive]]s, are denied access to the [[conscious]] mind by the [[ego]] because it regards them as a threat to its integrity or because they offend the ethical standards imposed upon it by the [[super-ego]].
Such impulses and wishes are forced back into the [[unconscious]] but almost inevitably find other means of expression by using the mechanisms of [[condensation]] and [[displacement]].
The resultant conflict between the respective [[demand]]s of the [[ego]] and the [[unconscious]] results in the formation of [[symptom]]s, which are a fomr of substitute sexual [[satisfaction]] or [[wish-fulfilment]].
[[Repression]] is not a single act which occurs only once, but a continuous application of pressure in the direction of the [[unconscious]].
The theory of [[repression]] is the key to the psychoanalytic understanding of [[neurosis]] and especially [[hysteria]].
[[Lacan]] argues that the triggering of a [[psychosis]] is governed by the different and specific process of [[forclosure]].
==Primal Repression==
The expression '[[primal repression]]' is used by [[Freud]] to refer to a hypothetical process in which the [[unconscious]] is constituted through the formation and [[repression]] of [[unconscious]] ideas and [[representation]]s.
The result is the lating [[fixation]] of the [[drive]] to one particular [[representation]].
'Primal' is used here in the sense in which [[Freud]] speaks of the [[primal scene]].
The concept of [[repression]] ([[French]]: ''refoulement'') is one of the most basic [[concepts]] in [[psychoanalytic theory]], and denotes the process by which certain [[thought]]s or [[memory|memories]] are expelled from [[consciousness]] and confined to the [[unconscious]].
[[Freud]] was first led to hypothesise the process of [[repression]] through his investigation into the [[amnesia]] of [[hysteria|hysterical]] [[patient]]s.
He later distinguished between [[primal repression]] (a '[[myth]]ical' [[forgetting]] of something that was never [[conscious]] to begin with, an originary 'psychical act' by which the [[unconscious]] is first constituted) and [[secondary repression]] (concrete acts of [[repression]] whereby some idea or perception that was once [[conscious]] is expelled from the [[conscious]]).
Since [[repression]] does not destroy the [[idea]]s or [[memories]] that are its target, but merely confines them to the [[unconscious]], the [[repressed]] [[material]] is always liable to return in a distorted form, in [[symptom]]s, [[dream]]s, [[slips of the tongue]], etc. (the [[return of the repressed]]).
For [[Lacan]], [[repression]] is the fundamental operation which distinguishes [[neurosis]] from the other [[clinical structure]]s. Whereas [[psychotic]]s [[foreclose]], and [[pervert]]s [[disavow]], only [[neurotic]]s [[repress]].
What is it that is repressed?
At one point [[Lacan]] speaks of the [[signified]] as the [[object]] of repression,<ref>{{E}}} p.55</ref> but he soon abandons this view and argues instead that it is always a [[signifier]] that is [[repressed]], never a [[signified]].<ref>{{Sl1}} p.218</ref>
This latter view seems to correspond more closely to [[Freud]]'s view that what is repressed is not the '[[affect]]' (which can only be displaced or transformed) but the 'ideational representative' of the [[drive]].
[[Lacan]] also takes up [[Freud]]'s distinction between [[primal repression]] and secondary [[repression]]:
[[Primal repression]] (Ger. ''Urverdr‰ngung'') is the [[alienation]] of [[desire]] when [[need]] is articulated in [[demand]].<ref>{{E}} p.286</ref>
It is also the [[unconscious]] [[signifying chain]].<ref>{{E}} p.314</ref>
[[Primary repression]] is the [[repression]] of the first [[signifier]].
"From the moment he speaks, from that precise moment and not before, I understand that there is repression."<ref>{{S20}} p.53</ref>
[[Lacan]] does not see [[primary repression]] as a specific psychical [[act]], localisable in [[time]], but as a structural feature of [[language]] itself - namely, its necessary incompleteness, the [[impossibility]] of ever saying "the truth about truth."<ref>{{Ec}} p.868</ref>
[[Secondary repression]] (Ger. ''Verdr‰ngung'') is a specific psychical [[act]] by which a [[signifier]] is elided from the [[signifying chain]].
[[Secondary repression]] is [[structure]]d like a [[metaphor]], and always involves 'the [[return of the repressed]]', whereby the [[repressed]] [[signifier]] reappears under the guise of the various [[formation]]s of the [[unconscious]] (i.e. [[symptom]]s, [[dream]]s, [[parapraxis|parapraxes]], [[joke]]s, etc.).
In [[secondary repression]], [[repression]] and the [[return of the repressed]] "are the same thing."
repression (refoulement) The concept of repression is one of the
most basic concepts in psychoanalytic theory, and denotes the process by
which certain thoughts or memories are expelled from consciousness and
confined to the unconscious. Freud was first led to hypothesise the process of
repression through his investigation into the amnesia The theory of hysterical patients. He later distinguished between primal '[[repression (a ]]'mythical' forgetting is one of something that was never conscious to begin with, an originary 'psychical act' by which the unconscious is first constituted) and secondary repression (concrete acts cornerstones of repression whereby some idea or perception that was once conscious is expelled from the conscious)[[psychoanalysis]]. Since repression does not destroy the ideas [[Repression]] occurs when impulses, [[wish]]es or [[memories that are its target]], usually but merely confines them to the unconscious, the repressed material is not always liable to return in of a distorted formsexual nature, in symptoms, dreams, slips of that are bound up with the tongue[[drive]]s, etc. (are denied access to the return of [[conscious]] mind by the repressed). For Lacan, repression is [[ego]] because it regards them as a [[threat]] to its integrity or because they offend the fundamental operation which distinguishes neurosis from [[ethical]] standards imposed upon it by the other clinical structures[[super-ego]]. Whereas psychotics foreclose, Such impulses and perverts disavow, only neurotics repress. What is it that is repressed? At one point Lacan speaks wishes are forced back into the [[unconscious]] but almost inevitably find other means of expression by using the signified as the object mechanisms of repression (E, 55), but he soon abandons this view [[condensation]] and argues instead that it is always a signifier that is repressed, never a signified (Sl1, 218)[[displacement]]. This latter view seems to correspond more closely to Freud'The resultant conflict between the respective [[demand]]s view that what is repressed is not the 'affect' (which can only be displaced or transformed) but the 'ideational representative' of the drive. Lacan also takes up Freud's distinction between primal repression [[ego]] and secondary repression: 1. Primal repression (Ger. Urverdr‰ngung) is the alienation of desire when need is articulated [[unconscious]] results in demand (E, 286). It is also the unconscious signifying chain (Eformation of [[symptom]]s, 314). Primary repression is the repression which are a form of the first signifier[[substitute]] sexual [[satisfaction]] or [[wish-fulfilment]]. 'From the moment he speaks, from that precise moment and not before, I understand that there [[Repression]] is repression' (S20, 53). Lacan does not see primary repression as a specific psychical single [[act, localisable in time]] which occurs only once, but as a structural feature continuous application of language itself - namely, its necessary incompleteness, pressure in the impossibility direction of ever saying 'the truth about truth' (Ec, 868)[[unconscious]]. 2. Secondary The theory of [[repression (Ger. Verdr‰ngung) ]] is a specific psychical act by which a signifier is elided from the signifying chain. Secondary repression is structured like a metaphor, and always involves 'key to the return psychoanalytic understanding of the repressed',[[neurosis]] and especially [[hysteria]]. whereby the repressed signifier reappears under [[Lacan]] argues that the guise of the various formations triggering of a [[psychosis]] is governed by the unconscious (i.e. symptoms, dreams, parapraxes, jokes, etc.). In secondary repression, repression different and the return specific process of the repressed 'are the same thing'[[forclosure]].
==Primal Repression==
The expression '[[primal repression]]' is used by [[Freud]] to refer to a hypothetical process in which the [[unconscious]] is constituted through the f[[ormation]] and [[repression]] of [[unconscious]] ideas and [[representation]]s.
The result is the lating [[fixation]] of the [[drive]] to one particular [[representation]].
'Primal' is used here in the sense in which [[Freud]] speaks of the [[primal scene]].
== def ==
The ego's mechanism for suppressing and forgetting its instinctual impulses.
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Freudian psychology]]
[[Category:Neurosis]]
[[Category:Treatment]]
[[Category:Symbolic]]
