System

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Freudian Dictionary

The secondary elaboration of the product of the dream-work is an excellent example of the nature and the pre­tensions of a system. An intellectual function in us demands the unification, coherence and comprehensibility of everything perceived and thought of, and does not hesitate to construct a false connection if, as a result of special circumstances, it can­not grasp the right one. We know such system formation not only from the dream, but also from phobias, from compulsive thinking and from the types of delusions. The system forma­tion is most ingenious in delusional states (paranoia) and dominates the clinical picture, but it also must not be over­looked in other forms of neuropsychoses. In every case we can show that a rearrangement of the psychic material takes place, which may often be quite violent, provided it seems comprehensible from the point of view of the system. The best indication that a system has been formed then lies in the fact that each result of it can be shown to have at least two motiv­ations, one of which springs from the assumptions of the system and is therefore eventually delusional-and a hidden one which, however, we must recognize as the real and effective motivation.[1]