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'''[[Psychological ]] [[repression]]''', or simply repression, is the [[psychology|psychological]] act of excluding [[desire]]s and impulses (wishes, [[fantasies ]] or [[feelings]]) from one's [[consciousness]] and attempting to hold or subdue [[them ]] in the [[Unconscious mind|subconscious]]. Since the popularization of [[Sigmund Freud]]'s [[work ]] in [[psychoanalysis]], repression is popularly known to be a common [[defense mechanism]].

Repression is considered [[unconscious ]] and can often be detrimental. It may be contrasted with [[suppression]], which is entirely [[conscious ]] and thus can be managed. Because repression is unconscious, it manifests itself through a [[symptom ]] or series of [[symptoms]], sometimes called the "[[return ]] of the [[repressed]]." A repressed [[sexual ]] [[desire, ]] for example, might re-surface in the [[form ]] of a nervous cough or a [[slip ]] of the tongue. In this way, although the [[subject ]] is not conscious of the desire and so cannot [[speak ]] it out loud, the subject's [[body ]] can still articulate the [[forbidden ]] desire through the symptom.

A person can suppress the impulse to "choke the [[life ]] out of some idiot who desperately [[needs ]] it" for higher reasons, such as sociability, or more mundane reasons, like keeping a job - especially if it's a co-worker or boss [[being ]] considered for the assault. The desire remains conscious, but is thwarted by the exercise of willpower due to a [[rational ]] decision to avoid the [[action]].

In spite of the popularity and wide use of this [[concept ]] in psychoanalysis and popular [[literature]], this proposition of "motivated [[forgetting]]," where the motivation is (1) unconscious and (2) aversive, the [[process ]] of repression has never been demonstrated in controlled research. It is often claimed that [[Psychological Trauma|traumatic]] events are "repressed," yet it appears that it is more likely, not less, that the occurrence of these events is remembered, if in a distorted manner. One problem from an [[objective ]] research point of view is that a "[[memory]]" is usually defined as what someone says or does, that can measured and recorded, since we have no way to verify the [[existence ]] and/or accuracy of a memory except by the correspondence of what someone clearly expresses with some [[other ]] [[representation ]] of [[past ]] events (written records, photographs; reports of [[others]], etc).

Normal repression is sometimes considered to have two [[stages]], which are progressively involved in the creation of the [[individual]]'s [[sense ]] of "[[self]]" and "other", of "[[good]]" and "bad", and of the aspects of [[personality ]] called "ego" and "[[superego]]".

In the Primary Repression [[phase]], the [[infant ]] learns that some aspects of [[reality ]] are pleasant, and others are unpleasant, and that some are controllable, and others not. In [[order ]] to define the "self", the infant must [[repress ]] the [[natural ]] assumption that all things are equal. Primary Repression then is the process of determining what is self, what is other, what is good and what is bad. Once done, the [[child ]] can now distinguish between desires, fears, self, and [[mother]]/other.

Secondary Repression begins once the child realizes that acting on some desires may bring [[anxiety]]. For example, the child who desires the mother's [[breast ]] may be denied and feel threatened with [[punishment]], perhaps by the [[father]]. This anxiety leads to repression of the desire for the mother's breast. The [[threat ]] of punishment related to this form of anxiety, when internalized becomes the "superego", which intercedes against the desires of the "ego" without the [[need ]] for any [[identifiable ]] [[external ]] threat.

Abnormal repression, or [[complex ]] [[neurotic ]] [[behavior ]] involving repression and the superego, occur when repression develops, or continues to develop due to the internalized feelings of anxiety, in ways leading to behavior that is illogical, self-destructive, or anti-[[social]].

A psychotherapist may try to reduce this behavior by revealing and re-introducing the repressed aspects of the [[patient]]'s [[mental ]] process to his conscious [[awareness]], and then teaching the patient how to reduce any [[anxieties ]] felt in relation to these feelings and impulses.