What is sublimation in psychoanalysis?

One of the defense mechanisms of the psyche, raised by psychoanalysis, is repression, which authors like Freud related it to psychopathology and great discomfort and dysfunction emotional.

However, Freud also proposed a mechanism that, similar to repression, consists in that instead of trying to silence our more basic instincts, transforms them into something superior, socially accepted and that has a useful use for the rest of society: the sublimation.

In this article we are going to talk about what is sublimation in psychoanalysisWhat authors of the stature of Freud, Jung and Lacan think and how it has been related to the development of humanity.

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Sublimation according to psychoanalysis

The idea of ​​what is understood by sublimation within the field of psychoanalysis varies depending on of the author, although all of them are very solidly based on the concept given by Sigmund Freud of this idea. Even those who are critical of the Freudian idea of ​​sublimation take it as an example.

Next we will see in more depth different positions on the concept, focusing on all in whom he postulated it, Sigmund Freud, although highlighting alternative views such as Lacan and Jung.

Freud's psychoanalysis

Within the most classical psychoanalytic theory, and from the mouth of Sigmund Freud Sublimation (“Sublimierung” in German) is understood to mean defense mechanism in which an impulse, sexual or not but socially little accepted, is transformed in something that, apparently, does not have much to do with sexuality. In turn, the end result of the process is that of something that has a beneficial purpose for the whole of society, usually a product of a cultural, artistic, intellectual, scientific or sports.

The erotic energy of the human being can be expressed, but within limits. If there is an excess of this energy and it is not socially acceptable to demonstrate it, the subject has two options: either sublimation or repression. If repressed, sexual tension can incur psychopathology according to the foundations of psychoanalysis itself.

Freud considered this mechanism to be much healthier compared to other, such as repression, denial, intellectualization or projection. According to her daughter Anna Freud in her book "The ego and defense mechanisms" (1936), sublimation constitutes the psyche's superior defense mechanism.

It should be noted that the main difference between sublimation and repression is that in this second defense mechanism there is a derivation and channeling of energy. On the other hand, in repression, the drive is deeply repressed and is not channeled, which would give way to all the psychopathology proposed by Freud when it comes to repressing sexual energy.

This is what Freud affirms in his work Continuation of Introductory Lessons to Psychoanalysis (1932). Sublimation is nothing more than the modification of the purpose and change of object, adapting it to what is socially acceptable. It is a socially acceptable outlet for excess sexual energy.

Freud defended the idea that most of the higher aspects of the human species, that is, culture and its derivatives, were the result of how the human being had developed. self-imposed social norms that, by not allowing him to be sexually free but not opting for repression, had to channel sexual energy and give it a more accepted use.

Culture, civilization, humanity is nothing more than the result of stifling sexual drives. Thus, for the Viennese psychoanalyst, culture was seen as radically contrary to the natural, although this was not necessarily a bad thing. Civilization was the result of man having repressed his most primal instincts throughout the ages. history, through a system of values ​​that has become more complex, increasingly penalizing the sexuality.

Freud believed that sublimation was a sign of maturity of civilization. It was a mechanism to allow people to behave in a socially functional way, that is, without breaking cultural norms, which generally used to treat sexuality as something not suitable to be treated on public roads and its excess was seen as a problem.

Faced with such a sacrifice, far from being completely repressed or extinguished the sexual drive, it would have been exploited and would have been the energy that would have made it possible to create treasures of art, science, knowledge and, as a whole, intellectual productions human.

This can be seen in areas in which sexuality is severely restricted, as is the case with medieval priests, who had to comply with celibacy and, as they could not satisfy their sexual need, dedicated to writing codices or studying the Bible, in addition to being the group that practically monopolized culture during that period. epoch.

But even though the most general definition refers to how the sexual drive must be channeled and transformed into something socially more desirable, it is true that Freud took into account that the original drive is not always something of a sexual.

He himself talks about the case of a prestigious German surgeon, Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach, who in his childhood was dedicated to cutting the tails of dogs. This behavior, clearly sadistic but not sexual, is worrying, typical of a child who when he is older we would not be surprised if he was a psychopath. However, in this particular case, he channeled it and transformed it into a more useful end, socially acceptable, being a prominent surgeon, known for great advances in rhinoplastic surgery and maxillofacial.

Interpersonal psychoanalysis

From the hand of Harry Stack Sullivan, another well-known psychoanalyst although perhaps not of Freud's stature, comes what is known as interpersonal psychoanalysis. Within this psychoanalytic current, and defined by Sullivan, it is understood that sublimation is an involuntary substitution that results in partial satisfaction but with broad social support of something that, although it would give us great pleasure, society would not see with good eyes.

This substitution may be something we really don't want, but it is the only way we have, no matter how small that is, satisfaction without us carrying out a very disruptive behavior for the rest of the society.

Sublimation according to Jung

Carl Gustav Jung considered sublimation to be something mystical from nature, which was significantly different from the Freudian point of view, who gave him a fairly detailed and, in a way, logical explanation of human behavior.

Freud, as we have already commented, considered that the concept of sublimation allowed us to understand how humanity had transformed the sexual instincts into something non-sexual, with a different purpose and substantially beneficial for the whole of the humanity.

Jung was critical of Freud's conception, since he considered that the Viennese psychoanalyst had tried to define it in a way that made it appear scientifically credible. For Jung, sublimation is not as voluntary a process as Freud originally argued.. It was not the simple transformation of sexual impulse into something different because society did not want us to be sexually free. For the Swiss psychoanalyst, sublimation was something very mysterious, alchemical in nature.

• You may be interested: "Carl Gustav Jung: biography and work of a spiritual psychologist"

Das Ding, sublimation and Lacan

Jacques Lacan relates the idea of ​​sublimation to the concept of "Das Ding" ("The thing"). Das Ding is an abstract notion, and one of the defining characteristics of the human condition. He conceives it as the void that we experience as human beings, which we try to fill. through human relationships, objects and experiences. The problem is that all attempts to fill the void that Das Ding implies are not enough to achieve full individual satisfaction.

Once the idea of ​​the Lacanian Das Ding is understood, it is possible to understand the concept of sublimation according to the perspective of the French psychoanalyst. For him, sublimation, the fact that something morally unacceptable is transformed into a product socially productive, be it artistic, scientific or cultural, it is done to reduce the internal tension of the subject.

Science and religion are examples of how to fill the gap in the world, that is, there are things that we do not know, that we want to know more in depth because it raises questions, and therefore we seek, either through theological explanations or through scientific investigation, answers.

Bibliographic references:

• Sigmund Freud, 'Civilization and Its Discontents' (1930) in The Standard Edition Of The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud - The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, and Other Works, trans. by James Strachey (Hogarth Press; London, 1961), vol. XXI, 79–80
• Anna Freud, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense (Karnac Books, 2011), p. 44.
• Carl Jung, Letters, ed. By G. Adler and A. Jaffé (Princeton University Press; Princeton, 1974), vol. 1, 171,
• C. G. Jung, Dreams: (From Volumes 4, 8, 12, and 16 of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung), Princeton University Press (2012), p. 100.