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The term '[[sublimation]]' (Fr. ''sublimation'') is one of the most familiar terms in the vocabulary of [[psychoanalysis]].
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"[[Sublimation]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[sublimation]]'') is a common term in [[psychoanalysis]]. "[[Sublimation]]" ([[Fr]]. '' [[sublimation]]'') is one of the a major concepts concept in [[psychoanalytic theory]]. This type of displacement is called a sublimation. Examples of sublimation are the deflection of energy into intellectual, humanitarian, cultural, and artistic pursuits. The direct expression of sexual and aggressive instincts is transformed into apparently nonsexual and non-aggressive forms of behavior. DA VINCIFreud observed that da Vinci's interest in painting Madonnas was a sublimated expression of a longing for his mother from whom he had been separated at an early age. CIVILIZATIONFreud points out that the development of civilization is made possible by the inhibition of primitive object-cathexes. The energy which is prevented from discharging itself in direct ways is diverted into socially useful and culturally creative channels. Sublimation does not result in complete satisfaction; there is always some residual tension which cannot be discharged by sublimated object-choices.
This concept was first articulated by [[Sigmund Freud]] as a [[defense mechanism]], that is, as an [[unconscious]] mental process in which (libidinal, instinctual, psychic, erotic energy) (the flow of) (the instinctual impulses of) (libido or sexual drive) is channelled, converted, transformed (diverted) into an apparently non-sexual activity, such as [[art|artistic creation]] and intellectual work, or redirected, diverted (from its immediate sexual aim and subordinates it to cultural endeavors) toward an apparently non-sexual aim or a socially valued [[object]], such as [[art|artistic creation]] and intellectual work, into creative and intellectual activity, into "socially useful" achievements (in a way congenial to the superego and its society).<ref>Freud 1933</ref>
According to Freud, [[sublimation]] is necessary because this direct (form of) [[satisfaction]] (of the [[drive]]) is [[prohibition|prohibited]] by [[society]].
Freud believed that complete [[sublimation]] might be possible for some particularly refined or [[culture]]d people
[[Jacques Lacan]] expands upon [[Freud]]'s account of [[sublimation]].
