Psychological repression
1674710
224470991
2008-07-09T00:00:31Z
Mladifilozof
589644
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{{Refimprove|date=November 2006}}
{{Merge|Repressed memory|Talk:Psychological_repression#Proposal_to_merge_with_Repressed_memory|date=September 2007}}
'''Psychological repression''', or simply '''repression''', is the [[psychology|psychological]] act of excluding [[Motivation|desires]] and [[impulse]]s (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 now accepted as a common [[defense mechanism]] in everyday life.<ref>
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==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
== Repressed memories ==
{{main|Repressed memory}}
It is often claimed that [[Psychological trauma|traumatic]] events are repressed, yet it appears that the trauma more often ''strengthens'' memories due to heightened emotional or physical sensations.<ref name="NPR-Aronson" /> (These sensations may also cause distortions, though [[human memory]] in general is filtered by layers of perception and incomplete.) One problem from an objective research point of view is that a "memory" must be measured and recorded by a person's actions or conscious expressions, which may be filtered through current thoughts and motivations.
In spite of the popularity and wide use of this concept in [[psychoanalysis]] and popular [[literature]], the proposition of "motivated forgetting", where the [[motivation]] is both unconscious and aversive, the process of repressing ''past'' events has never been demonstrated in controlled research. <ref name="NPR-Aronson">[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12125926 NPR: Why It's Hard to Admit to Being Wrong<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
However, the repression of information chosen for consideration in the present or future - because it is viewed as aversive - has a powerful relationship to what will be drawn out of the unconscious to be made available for honest, conscious deliberation.{{Clarifyme|date=March 2008}} This has an enormous amount of supporting [[research]] in the area of [[Cognitive dissonance|cognitive dissonance theory]] started in the 1950s by [[Leon Festinger]] among others. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
== Stages ==
In the Primary Repression phase, an infant learns that some aspects of reality are pleasant, and others are unpleasant; that some are controllable, and others not. In order to define the "[[Self (psychology)|self]]", the infant must repress the natural assumption that all things are [[Equality of outcome|equal]]. Primary Repression then is the process of determining what is self, what is other; what is good, and what is bad. At the end of this phase, the child can now distinguish between desires, fears, self, and others. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Secondary Repression begins once the child realizes that acting on some desires may bring [[anxiety]]. This anxiety leads to repression of the desire. 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. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Abnormal repression, or complex [[Neurosis|neurotic behavior]] involving repression and the superego, occurs when repression develops and/or continues to develop, due to the internalized feelings of anxiety, in ways leading to behavior that is illogical, self-destructive, or anti-social. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
A [[psychotherapist]] may try to reduce this behavior by revealing and re-introducing the repressed aspects of the patient's [[Mental function|mental process]] to his conscious [[awareness]], and then teaching the patient how to reduce any anxieties felt in relation to these feelings and impulses. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
== See also ==
*[[Regression (psychology)|Regression]]
*[[Reaction formation]]
*[[Psychological projection|Projection]]
*[[Rationalization (psychology)|Rationalization]]
*[[Displacement (psychology)|Displacement]]
==References==
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[[Category:Psychodynamics]]
[[Category:Psychoanalytic theory|Psycological Repression]]
[[Category:Defence mechanism]]
[[ar:كبت]]
[[de:Verdrängung (Psychoanalyse)]]
[[es:Represión]]
[[fr:Refoulement]]
[[it:Rimozione]]
[[he:הדחקה]]
[[nl:Verdringing]]
[[ja:抑圧 (心理学)]]
[[pt:Repressão psicológica]]
[[ru:Вытеснение]]
[[sr:Потискивање]]
[[sk:Vytesnenie (psychológia)]]
[[sv:Bortträngning]]