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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 effects. For repression to succeed, in Freud's view, some already repressed [[material ]] must be [[present]], material which, as a truly constraining force, will draw to itself those [[ideas ]] now marked for repression. But such unconscious attraction cannot suffice. At the same [[time]], and in tandem with it, a pressure must also come into play from the opposite direction—a truly "repressive" force. Thus "repression proper" is the outcome of the combined forces of attraction and repulsion as directed toward the [[psychical ]] representatives of the [[instinct]].

Its prerequisite is that [[other]], older, "primal" repressions should have already deposited material that remains in the shape of unconscious ideas manifesting their [[presence ]] by attracting—from [[consciousness ]] into the unconscious—ideas deemed disagreeable or unwelcome. This earliest repressed material constitutes a "nucleus of the Unconscious," a primordial nucleus that later "exerts an attraction" upon fresh items to be repressed (1926d, p. 94); in this [[sense ]] the moment of its [[formation ]] may well be described as "primal."

In the [[German ]] term Urverdrängung, "primal repression," the prefix ur- denotes this primordial aspect, for it means "original," "of the origins." It does not, however, provided any key to the [[meaning ]] of primal repression. In parallel with Urvater, primal [[father ]] of the [[horde]], and Urszene, primal [[scene]], Urverdrägung designates the [[matrix]], as it were, of the [[prohibition ]] on [[knowledge ]] of that which was formerly known. Seen in this light, primal repression is much more than a postulate; the [[concept ]] has been described as "an [[epistemological ]] coup de force" marking the tipping point between the unknowable and the first [[signs ]] of [[mental ]] functioning, and as "inaugural and [[structuring]]" (Menahem, 1986).

This "phylogenetic" [[thesis ]] seemed necessary to Freud in respect of the process itself, which had to be explained as the result of both pressure and attraction. "The impelling force is in a sense driven from two extremities, [[being ]] rooted on the one hand in [its] 'patrimonial' foundation and linked on the other to perceptions liable to be unpleasurable. It thus combines the current and the archaic" (Le Guen, 1992).

Treating the attractive force as necessary raises the question of when primal repression occurs: How can a "first" repression take [[place ]] before anything has yet been repressed? "We have [[reason ]] to assume that there is a primal repression, a first [[phase ]] of repression, which consists in the psychical (ideational) [[representative ]] of the instinct being denied entrance into the [[conscious]]. With this a [[fixation ]] is established; the representative in question persists unaltered from then onwards and the instinct remains attached to it" (1915d, p. 148).

Furthermore, repression "[[demands ]] a persistent expenditure of force" (ibid., p. 151). Freud invokes [[anticathexis ]] as the [[mechanism ]] "which represents the permanent expenditure [of [[energy]]] of a primal repression, and which also guarantees the permanence of that repression." Anticathexis is the sole mechanism involved in primal repression; as for "repression proper" or "after-pressure," the [[withdrawal ]] of pre-conscious [[cathexis ]] also plays a part (1915e, p. 181). During the [[primitive ]] period when the unconscious itself is constituted, if a force can be directed to the task of countercathexis, this can be done only by a differentiated mental [[agency]]. Inasmuch as the [[superego ]] is formed subsequent to primal repression, the ego must be assumed to be the agency [[responsible ]] here. The establishment of the ego and that of primal repression would thus seem to be correlated.

Although the precise [[nature ]] and the motor force of this initial anticathexis might be obscure, Freud did offer an [[economic ]] hypothesis concerning its formation: "It is highly probable that the immediate precipitating causes of primal repressions are quantitative factors such as an excessive degree of [[excitation ]] and the breaking through of the protective shield against stimuli" (1926d [1925], p. 94).

# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1915d). Repression. SE, 14.

# ——. (1926d [1925]). Inhibitions, [[symptoms ]] and [[anxiety]]. SE, 20.