Mental Process
cathexis Audio
ca·thex·is [ kuh-thek-sis ]
Subclass of:
Psychologic Displacement
Definitions related to cathexis:
  • Attachment, conscious or unconscious, of emotional feeling and significance to an idea, object or most commonly a person.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
  • In psychoanalysis, a conscious or unconscious of psychic energy in an idea, concept, object or person. Compare with acathexis.
    Sadock's Comprehensive Glossary of Psychiatry and Psychology
    BJ Sadock Titles Press, 2012
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