Primal Repression

The term "primal repression" refers to a hypothetical process postulated by Freud as the originating moment of repression: certain unconscious ideas—the primal repressed material—constitute a "first unconscious nucleus," which then operates as a pole of attraction for elements to be repressed later. "Primal" repression thus complements the work of rejection performed by the censorship or the ego by way of "repression proper" or "after-pressure" (1915d, p. 148). The existence of primal repression is in essence inferred from its...