The Unconscious by Sigmund Freud

Author:Sigmund Freud
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2005-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

In our discussion so far, we have dealt with the repression of the drive representative, which we have taken to mean an idea or group of ideas invested with a certain quantity of energy (libido, interest) from the drive. Clinical observation now forces us to dissect what we have so far conceived of as a whole, because it reveals to us that, besides the idea, something else representing the drive must be taken into consideration, and this other element can, when repressed, experience a fate quite distinct from that of the idea. We have taken to calling this other element of the psychic representative the emotive charge; it is the part of the drive that can become detached from the idea and find an expression commensurate with its quantity in processes that are experienced as emotions. From now on when describing a case of repression, we shall have to keep track of what becomes of each separate repressed element, the idea and the drive energy attached to it.

We should like to say something general about the fates of each of these, and, having taken our bearings a little, we can do just this. The general fate of the idea representing the drive can hardly be anything but to disappear from consciousness if it was previously conscious, or to be kept away from consciousness if it was about to become so. The distinction is not important; it amounts more or less to the difference between throwing an unpleasant guest out of my drawing-room or hallway, and, having recognized who it is, not letting him through the front door at all.1 A brief survey of psychoanalytical experience tells us that the quantitative element of the drive representative can experience three kinds of fate: the drive is either completely suppressed so that no trace of it is visible, or it manifests itself as an emotion coloured by some or other quality, or it is transformed into anxiety. These two latter possibilities set us the task of considering the transformation of the psychic energies of drives into emotions – especially anxiety – as a new kind of drive fate.

We recall that the sole motive and purpose of repression is to avoid unpleasure. It follows that the fate of the emotive charge of the drive representative is far more important than that of the idea, and it is this that determines the success or otherwise of the process of repression. If a repression does not manage to prevent feelings of unpleasure or anxiety from arising, we may say it has failed, even if it has achieved its aim as far as the ideational element is concerned. Naturally, failed repressions will be of more interest to us than successful ones, which for the most part will elude our scrutiny.

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