Displacement (psychology) - The Psychoanalytic Mainstream

The Psychoanalytic Mainstream

Arguably, while generally accepted in the wake of Freud, 'the notion of displacement did not see much further development' in the psychoanalytic mainstream. Otto Fenichel highlighted the displacement of affect, pointing out that 'postponement is but one special case among many types of displacement of affects. Another subtype is displacement in respect to the object. The affect, which was suppressed in relation to one object, bursts forth against another'. More broadly, he considered that 'in part the paths of displacement depend on the nature of the drives that are warded off'.

Eric Berne in his first, psychoanalytic work, maintained that 'some of the most interesting and socially useful displacements of libido occur when both the aim and the object are partial substitutions for the biological aim and object...sublimation (psychology)'.

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