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This process is active in the formation of [[hysterical ]] or [[obsessional symptoms]] [[symptom]]s, in the [[dream work]], in the production of jokes[[joke]]s, and in the [[transference]].

Between 1887 and 1902 the concept of displacement appeared several times in [[Freud]]'s writings (in Drafts K and M in his correspondence with [[Wilhelm Fliess]], in the "Project for a Scientific Psychology" [1950c (1895)], and in [[The Interpretation of Dreams ]] [1900a]).

It was introduced in connection with his clinical work, apropos of the [[analysis ]] of [[neurotic symptoms ]] [[symptom]]s and [[paranoia]].

In Draft M (1950a), [[Freud ]] described the types of displacement that result in compromise-formations.

He distinguished <blockquote>"Displacement by association: hysteria.Displacement by (conceptual) similarity: obsessional neurosis (characteristic of the place at which the defence occurs, and perhaps also of the time).; Causal displacement: paranoia."<ref>p. 252</ref></blockquote>

Displacement by (conceptual) similarity: obsessional neurosis (characteristic of the place at which the defence occurs, and perhaps also of the time).; Causal displacement: paranoia" (p. 252). In addition, in his search for a model of psychic functioning still informed by the scientific thinking and medical research of the time, [[Freud ]] noted:

He noted in [[The Interpretation of Dreams ]] that:

a)  <blockquote>"The consequence of the displacement is that the dream-content no longer resembles the core of the dream-thoughts and . . . the dream gives no more than a distortion of the dream-wish which exists in the unconscious" (p. 308);</blockquote>

[[Dream ]] distortion can be

The notion of displacement did not see much further development.  In his various revisions to his theories on dreams[[dream]]s, [[Freud ]] focused more on the separation of images [[image]]s from the affects [[affect]]s that had been attached to them, on the vicissitudes of these affects ([[displacement]], conservation, metamorphosis), and on the fate of images (stripped of [[affect]]) in relation to the "sensory intensity of the image presented." (<ref>1900a, p. 306, n. 1). </ref>

But it was above all in the process of refining the analysis of the transference during treatment and its different manifestations—lateral, indirect, and direct transference (<ref>Freud, 1915a; Sandór Ferenczi, 1909/1994; Michel Neyraut, 1974)—that </ref> — that the notion of [[displacement ]] was expanded.

It was further explored, too, by such authors as [[Jacques Lacan ]] (1957/2002; 1958/2002) and Guy Rosolato (1969) who took as their starting point the work of linguists (Ullmann, 1952; Jakobson and Halle, 1956) on the relationship between [[signifier ]] and [[signified]], and on [[metonymy ]] ([[displacement ]] by [[contiguity]]) and [[metaphor ]] ([[displacement ]] by [[substitution]]).

[[Displacement ]] is often linked to [[substitution]].

Not infrequently, this link is made without an adequate distinction being drawn in temporal terms between [[substitution ]] where there is an immediate exchange based on the [[disavowal ]] of one of the two poles involved (perceptual, hallucinatory, or conceptual substitutions), and [[substitution ]] where deferred action comes into play.

The mechanism of [[displacement ]] detaches the [affect]] or emotional charge of an [[unconscious ]] idea and ransfers it to a less intense idea which is linked to the first by a [[chain ]] of associations[[association]]s.

Both [[condensation ]] and [[displacement ]] can also be observed in other [[unconscious ]] formations sch as symptoms[[symptom]]s; they are also an important feature of jokes[[joke]]s.

Following [[Jakobson]] [[Lacan ]] likens condensatin and [[displacement ]] to the [[linguistic ]] mechanisms of [[metaphor]] and [[metonymy]].

[[Displacement ]] is one of the methods by which the [[repressed ]] returns in hidden ways.

For example, in dreams [[dream]]s the [[affect ]] (emotions) associated with threatening impulses are often transferred elsewhere (displaced), so that, for example, apparently trivial elements in the manifest dream seem to cause extraordinary distress while "what was the essence of the dream-thoughts finds only passing and indistinct representation in the dream." (<ref>"New Introductory Lectures" 22.21). </ref>

For [[Freud]], "[[Displacement ]] is the principle means used in the dream-distortion to which the dream-thoughts must submit under the influence of the [[censorship]]." (<ref>"New Introductory Lectures" 22.21). </ref>

The same sort of [[displacement ]] can occur in [[symptom-formation. The other method whereby the repressed hides itself is condensation]].