RETURN OF THE REPRESSED
Freud explained the use "Return of the Repressed" to describe the existence of neurotic symptoms.
The idea is that the mind will block out/push back a bad experience or memory and the human ego would stop it trying to come back. It would then arise dressed/disguised as a symptom.Repressed wishes are not destroyed in the unconscious rather, they are forever re-emerging in the form of what are generically called derivatives of the unconscious.
For example, a family with an only child are thinking of having another child, to the only child this is unbelievable, they have been the centre of his/her parent's world and now they attention they had received may well be passed onto the new child.
When the child is born and bought back to the family home the elder child must push back the anger of not being the only child that they push the feelings deep down so that they do not upset the parents by doing something unruly, but if the elder child were to be left home with an infant the feelings of anger could rise without anyone there to stop him. Hense why parents should never let a 3 year old stay with an infant. Eventually the elder may learn to love the his/her younger sibling and push the feelings way back down, but they anger is still there. Finding another way to release itself.
Good account. Freud thought we all have to repress some of our most primitive desires and emotions in order to take our place in society. So infant rages etc are repressed (we cannot recall our early childhood). Does horror allow us to experience these things again, in a safe context?
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