Cathexis
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| - | '''Mental''' or '''psychic energy''' or ''' activity''' is the concept of a principle of activity powering the operation of the [[mind]], [[soul]] or [[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]]. The idea harks back to Aristotle's conception of [[actus et potentia]]. "Energy" is here used in the literal meaning of "activity" or "operation". | ||
| - | [[Henry More]] in his 1642 ''Psychodia platonica; or a platonicall song of the soul'' defined an "energy of the soul" as including ''every phantasm of the soul''. [[Julian Sorell Huxley]] defines "mental energy" as "the driving forces of the [[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]], [[emotion]]al as well as [[intellect]]ual" (''On living in a revolution'' xv.192, 1944). | ||
| - | In ''The Ego and the Id'', Freud argued that the id was the source of the personality's desires, and therefore of the psychic energy that powered the mind. Freud defined Libido as the instinct energy or force. Freud later added the Death drive (also contained in the id) as a second source of mental energy. | + | In [[psychodynamics]], '''cathexis''' is defined as the process of investment of [[mental energy|mental or emotional energy]] in a person, object, or idea. The [[Greek language|Greek]] term 'cathexis' was chosen by [[James Strachey]] to render the [[German language|German]] term 'Besetzung' in his translations of [[Sigmund Freud]]'s complete works. In [[psychoanalysis]], cathexis is the [[libido]]'s charge of energy. Freud often described the functioning of psychosexual energies in mechanical terms, influenced perhaps by the dominance of the [[steam engine]] at the end of the 19th century. In this manner, he also tended to think of the libido as a producer of energies. |
| - | In 1928, Carl Jung published a seminal essay entitled "On Psychic Energy." Later, the theory of psychodynamics and the concept of "psychic energy" was developed further by those such as Alfred Adler and Melanie Klein. | + | Freud often represented frustration in libidinal desires as a blockage of energies that have, or would eventually build up and require release in alternative ways. This release could occur, for example, by way of [[regression]] and the "re-cathecting" of former positions, that is, [[fixation]] at the [[oral fixation|oral phase]] or [[anal fixation|anal phase]] and the enjoyment of former sexual objects ("object-cathexes"), including [[autoeroticism]]. |
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| - | Just as physical energy acts upon physical objects, psychological energy would act upon psychological entities. i.e. thoughts. Psychological energy and force are the basis of an attempt to formulate a scientific theory according to which psychological phenomena would be subject to precise laws akin to how physical objects are subject to Newtons laws. This concept of psychological energy is completely separate and distinct from (or even opposed to) the mystical eastern concept of [[Energy (spiritual)|spiritual energy]]. | + | |
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| - | ==Mental energy and physical energy== | + | |
| - | Mental energy has been repeatedly compared to or connected with the physical quantity [[energy]]. | + | |
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| - | In 1874, the concept of "[[psychodynamics]]" was proposed with the publication of ''Lectures on Physiology'' by German physiologist [[Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke]] who, in coordination with physicist [[Hermann von Helmholtz]], one of the formulators of the [[first law of thermodynamics]] ([[conservation of energy]]), supposed that all living organisms are energy-systems also governed by this principle. During this year, at the [[University of Vienna]], Brücke served as supervisor for first-year medical student Sigmund Freud who adopted this new "dynamic" physiology. In his ''Lectures on Physiology'', Brücke set forth the radical view that the living organism is a [[dynamic system]] to which the laws of [[chemistry]] and [[physics]] apply. | + | |
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| - | The origins of Freud’s basic model, based on the fundamentals of chemistry and physics, according to [[John Bowlby]], stems from [[Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke|Brücke]], [[Meynert]], [[Josef Breuer|Breuer]], [[Helmholtz]], and [[Herbart]]. | + | |
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| - | Studies of the 1990s to 2000s have found that mental effort has can be measured in terms of increased metabolism in the brain. | + | |
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| - | ==See also== | + | |
| - | * [[Ego, superego, and id]] | + | |
| - | * [[Libido]] | + | |
| - | * [[Cathexis]] | + | |
| - | * [[Energy (esotericism)]] | + | |
| - | * [[Energy psychology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Mind]] | + | |
| - | * [[Motivation]] | + | |
| - | * [[Humorism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Death drive]] | + | |
| + | When the [[Ego, super-ego, and id|ego]] blocks such efforts to discharge one's cathexis by way of [[regression]], that is, when the ego wishes to [[repression|repress]] such [[Interpersonal attraction|desires]], Freud uses the term "[[anticathexis|anti-cathexis]]" or counter-charge. Like a steam engine, the libido's cathexis then builds up until it finds alternative outlets, which can lead to [[sublimation (psychology)|sublimation]] or to the formation of sometimes disabling symptoms. | ||
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In psychodynamics, cathexis is defined as the process of investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea. The Greek term 'cathexis' was chosen by James Strachey to render the German term 'Besetzung' in his translations of Sigmund Freud's complete works. In psychoanalysis, cathexis is the libido's charge of energy. Freud often described the functioning of psychosexual energies in mechanical terms, influenced perhaps by the dominance of the steam engine at the end of the 19th century. In this manner, he also tended to think of the libido as a producer of energies.
Freud often represented frustration in libidinal desires as a blockage of energies that have, or would eventually build up and require release in alternative ways. This release could occur, for example, by way of regression and the "re-cathecting" of former positions, that is, fixation at the oral phase or anal phase and the enjoyment of former sexual objects ("object-cathexes"), including autoeroticism.
When the ego blocks such efforts to discharge one's cathexis by way of regression, that is, when the ego wishes to repress such desires, Freud uses the term "anti-cathexis" or counter-charge. Like a steam engine, the libido's cathexis then builds up until it finds alternative outlets, which can lead to sublimation or to the formation of sometimes disabling symptoms.
