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Decathexis describes both the [[action ]] and the result of withdrawing [[psychic ]] energy—usually libido—away from where it had been attached to a psychic [[formation]], a [[bodily ]] phenomenon, or an [[object]].

The [[idea ]] of decathexis, or [[withdrawal ]] of [[cathexis]], is linked to the [[notion ]] of psychic [[energy ]] and occurs very early on in [[Freud]]'s [[work]], although the term itself or its equivalents are not explicitly used. As early as "The Neuro-[[Psychoses ]] of [[Defence]]" (1894a), Freud outlines certain mechanisms for repressing representations when he writes that we have "an approximate fulfilment of the task if the ego succeeds in turning this powerful idea into a weak one, in robbing it of the affect—the sum of excitation—with which it is loaded" (1894a, p. 48). In fact the notion of decathexis first appears as a means of [[repression ]] in his work on the [[paranoia ]] of Justice [[Schreber]]: "It is quite possible that a detachment of the [[libido ]] is the essential and regular [[mechanism ]] of every repression" (1911c [1910], p. 71). But the important [[role ]] eventually attributed to energy in the very [[constitution ]] of the [[psyche ]] would make decathexis a central notion, independent of the mechanism of repression. The [[nature ]] of decathected [[mental ]] [[structures ]] or [[objects]], the more or less massive modalities of the decathexis, and the fate of the withdrawn energy, all would have serious consequences. As Freud writes: "the liberated libido will be kept in suspension within his [[mind]], and will there give rise to tensions and color his mood" (1911c [1910], p. 72), until it finds [[another ]] attachment. In the [[case ]] of paranoia it will hypercathect the ego. In "[[Mourning ]] and [[Melancholia]]" (1916-17f [1915]), Freud studied the progressive withdrawal of cathexis from the [[lost object]], this [[being ]] necessary for the [[reality ]] of [[loss ]] to be finally acceptable.

[[Paul|PAUL ]] DENIS

See also: Boredom; Cathexis; ; [[Dead ]] [[mother ]] [[complex]]; [[Dismantling]]; Fusion/defusion of the [[instincts]]. Repression; [[Sleep]]/wakefulness; [[Transference ]] [[depression]].[[Bibliography]]

* [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1894a). The neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3 : 41-61.* ——. (1911c [1910]). [[Psycho]]-[[analytic ]] [[notes ]] on an autobiographical account of a case of paranoia ([[dementia ]] paranoides). SE, 12: 1-82.* ——. (1914c). On [[narcissism]]: an introduction. SE, 14: 67-102.

* ——. (1916-17f [1915]). A metapsychological [[supplement ]] to the [[theory ]] of [[dreams]]. SE, 14: 217-235.