Jump to content

Acathexis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acathexis is a psychoanalytic term for a lack of emotional response to significant memories or actual interactions, where such a response would normally be expected.[1]

The term also refers more broadly to a general absence of normal or expected feelings.[2]

Acathexis has been linked to anxiety, bipolar disorder and dementia,[3] while the phenomenon also appears in posttraumatic stress disorder.[4]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ W. W. Wang, Comprehensive Psychiatry Review (2009) p. 49
  2. ^ R. J. Corsini, The Dictionary of Psychiatry (2002) p. 6
  3. ^ B. J. & V. A. Sadock, Kaplan and Sadock's Pocket Handbook of Clinical Psychiatry (2010) p. 513
  4. ^ D. Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (1996) p. 206

Further reading

[edit]
  • P. Sifeos, 'Affect. Emotional Conflicts, and Deficits' Psychotherapy-and-Psychosomatics 56 (1991) 116-22