Displacement

Displacement (psychology)

In Freudian psychology, displacement (German Verschiebung, 'shift' or 'move') is an unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind redirects effects from an object felt to be dangerous or unacceptable to an object felt to be safe or acceptable.The term originated with Sigmund Freud.
Displacement operates in the mind unconsciously and involves emotions, ideas, or wishes being transferred from their original object to a more acceptable substitute. It is most often used to allay anxiety; and can lead to the displacement of aggressive impulses or to the displacement of sexual impulses

The psychoanalytic mainstream

Arguably, while generally accepted in the wake of Freud, 'the notion of displacement did not see much further development'in the psychoanalytic mainstream. Otto Fenichel highlighted the displacement of affect, pointing out that 'postponement is but one special case among many types of displacement of affects. Another subtype is displacement in respect to the object. The affect, which was suppressed in relation to one object, bursts forth against another'. More broadly, he considered that 'in part the paths of displacement depend on the nature of the drives that are warded off'.
Eric Berne in his first, psychoanalytic work, maintained that 'some of the most interesting and socially useful displacements of libido occur when both the aim and the object are partial substitutions for the biological aim and object...sublimation (psychology)