In
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
, decathexis is the withdrawal of
cathexis
In psychoanalysis, cathexis (or emotional investment) is defined as the process of allocation of mental or emotional energy to a person, object, or idea.
Origin of term
The Greek term ''cathexis'' (κάθεξις) was chosen by James Strache ...
from an idea or
instinctual object.
Decathexis is the process of dis-investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea.
Narcissism
In
narcissistic neurosis, cathexis is withdrawn from external instinctual objects (or rather their unconscious representations) and turned on the
ego – a process Freud highlighted in the
Schreber case, and linked to the subject's ensuing
megalomania.
A similar decathexis of energy has been linked to the emergence of symptoms of
hypochondriasis
Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has repeatedly changed. It has been claimed that this debilitating cond ...
, as well as of
melancholia
Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...
.
André Green saw decathexis as the product of the
death drive, blanking out the possibility of thinking by a process of what he called de-objectilizing.
Grief
Decathexis of the lost person in grief was seen as a regular part of the mourning process by Freud, although later analysts have argued that such decathexis was rather the result of inhibited or partial mourning, not of successful mourning.
[Lora H. Tessman, ''The Analyst's Analyst Within'' (2003) p. 236-7]
See also
References
External links
*{{Cite journal, pmid=6544753, year=1984, last1=Furman, first1=R. A, title=Intermittent decathexis--a type of parental dysfunction, journal=The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, volume=65 ( Pt 4), pages=423–33, last2=Furman, first2=E
Psychoanalytic terminology
Freudian psychology