Changes

Defined by Freud as a process which allows the [[individual ]] to distinguish between external stimuli and internal stimuli from within the psyche, and to establish the vital inner/outer [[distinction]].[[Reality]]-testing is a [[defence ]] against [[hallucination ]] and the confusion of what is actually perceived and what is imagined.

In ''[[A Metapsychological Supplement to the Theory of Dreams]]'' (1915), [[Freud]] describes the [[process]] of [[reality testing]] as a way for the [[psyche]] to determine whether the [[experience ]] it is undergoing is [[present ]] or is the [[recall ]] of a previous one.

The [[need ]] for both of these [[concepts ]] in [[psychoanalysis ]] stems from the psyche's proclivity to hallucinate. If a previous experience is hallucinated, [[meaning ]] made present to perception by the [[action ]] of intense [[instinctual ]] [[cathexis]], this may fog up the ego's capacities to differentiate between [[past ]] and present, internal and external, and thus require it to refer to the intensity of the cathexis to differentiate between actual perception and hallucination.

In Freud's inaugural [[texts]], the ego's capacity to make and [[change ]] [[cathexes ]] devolves upon reality testing. In the texts that followed, this capacity was assumed by perception, which conveys [[external reality ]] inward (1911b), then motility, which enables flight from extreme sources of [[excitation ]] and thereby enables the ego to differentiate the excitation from internal sources (1916-1917f).

However, all of these [[processes ]] assume means that cannot be used in the [[psychoanalytic ]] [[session]], where motility and perception are in large part suspended. Freud's successors, [[Winnicott ]] in [[particular]], have therefore emphasized [[another ]] process that contributes to distinguishing the realm of [[fantasy ]] and differentiating internal and external realities. This process is based on the fact that external reality resists fantasized [[destruction ]] and is not destroyed by it. Reality, or rather [[externality]], can thus be discovered by its capacities to resist the [[subject]]'s destructiveness. This confers upon the [[analysis ]] of [[negative ]] [[transference ]] a preponderant [[role ]] in [[treatment]].

* [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1911b). Formulations on the two principles of [[mental ]] functioning. SE, 12: 213-226.* ——. (1916-1917f [1915]). A metapsychological [[supplement ]] to the [[theory ]] of [[dreams]]. SE, 14: 217-235.* Abend, Sander. (1982). Reality testing as a [[clinical ]] [[concept]]. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 51, 218-238.* Arlow, [[Jacob]]. (1969). Fantasy, [[memory]], and reality testing. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 38, 28-51.