In psychoanalysis, anticathexis, or countercathexis, is the energy used by the ego to bind the primitive impulses of the id.Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (London 1946) p. 42 Sometimes the ego follows the instructions of the superego in doing so; sometimes however it develops a double-countercathexis, so as to block feelings of guilt and anxiety deriving from the superego, as well as id impulses.Fenichel, p. 132 and p. 479
Repression and isolation
Freud saw the establishment of a permanent anticathexis as a prerequisite for successful psychological repression. He also saw countercathexis as playing a central role in isolation.Fenichel, p. 155
In a late work, Freud further distinguished between the external anticathexis of repression and what he called “internal anticathexis" (i.e. alteration of the ego through reaction formation).Sigmund Freud, On Psychopathology (PFL 10) p. 318
Figure-ground Anticathexis has also been linked to the phenomenon of figure-ground, in that it may entail the suppression of the margin or ground of a perceptual field.R. Boothby, Freud as Philosopher (2001) p. 77
See also
References
Further reading J. Laplanche/J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanalysis (2012)