Psychiatria pre prax 4/2015

The concept of sublimation and its difficulties

Sublimation involves human activity whose source is found in the force of the sexual drive, but it ultimately has no relation to sexuality, and so is desexualized. This is particularly true in artistic creation and intellectual work. How can be precisely understood such a radical transformation of the force of the sexual drive towards a non-sexual aim or object?

Keywords: sublimation, desexualisation, sexual drive, defence mechanisms, Sigmund Freud.