In his early psychoanalytic work
Project for a Scientific Psychology(1895), and in his study of hysterical symptoms, Sigmund Freud recognised that it was possible in the psyche for the emotional affect of an experience to separated from the original idea and transferred to other occasions and experiences. For example, in cases of hysteria the energy involved in creating the paralysis of a limb might be redirected by anxieity, fear or guilt from a natural sexual expression. In the analysis he later proposed in
Interpretation of Dreams(1900), displacement becomes one of the two major mechanisms in the formation of dream symbols (the other is Condensation.) Displacement usually involves the transfer of the emotional or ideational affect from its original source to another symbol in the…
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Citation: Clark, Robert. "Displacement [Verschiebung]". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 October 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=282, accessed 23 November 2024.]
