Repression

1. Etymology

Repression names the unconscious suppression of psychic contents incompatible with the attitude of consciousness. Related: shadow; resistance; systematic amnesia; complex.

2. Plain summary

From early childhood under moral pressure of the environment, repression continues through life—withdrawing painful or disagreeable memories from recollection (systematic amnesia). It feeds the personal shadow: what would disturb peace of mind gets pushed out. The more negative, afraid, and devaluing consciousness is, the more repulsive the dissociated content’s face becomes.

Many repressed contents surface naturally in analysis. Where resistances are strong, Jung insists they be respected—support the weak conscious/rapport attitude until the patient can let repressed contents rise spontaneously, lest the ego be overwhelmed. Engage Freud’s repressive-attitude language without reducing Jung to a mere echo.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common repression motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
unconscious suppression of incompatible contents; childhood moral influence; systematic amnesia; personal shadow contents; puberty affective intruders; negative attitude intensifies dissociated face; respect strong resistances; support conscious attitude until spontaneous rise; kinship with complex / neurosis etiology.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology repression is a developmental and defensive process shaping personal shadow and neurosis—handled clinically with respect for ego strength. Sharp carries the dedicated head; Samuels has no separate repression lemma this vessel pass. Do not invent loci. Do not caricature Freud.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Repression. The unconscious suppression of psychic contents that are incompatible with the attitude of consciousness. … Repression causes what is called a systematic amnesia… Repression is not only a factor in the etiology of many neuroses, it also determines contents of the personal shadow… Where there are strong resistances… these should always be respected lest the ego be overwhelmed.

(Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 7 ¶202; CW 17 ¶199a; CW 13 ¶464; CW 16 ¶381.

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — no dedicated repression head:

(no head)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

In Freud’s view, as most people know, the contents of the unconscious are reducible to infantile tendencies which are repressed because of their incompatible character. Repression is a process that begins in early childhood under the moral influence of the environment and continues throughout life. By means of analysis the repressions are removed and the repressed wishes made conscious.
(Jung, 1928/1966, CW 7, p. 177, ¶202) Dual shadow untouched.

Some of these unconscious contents have the special quality of being actively repressed by the conscious mind. Through the more or less deliberate withdrawal of attention from certain conscious contents, and through active resistance to them, they are eventually expelled from consciousness. … Repression, however, should be clearly distinguished from suppression. … Suppression does not cause forgetting, but repression definitely does.
(Jung, 1946/1954, CW 17, p. 108, ¶199a)

Prefer CW 13 ¶464 · CW 16 ¶381 unstamped — paragraph markers not found on vessel this pass.

See also: shadow; complex; neurosis; rapport; persona; sacred-marriage; sacrifice.

References

Jung, C. G. (1954). Analytical psychology and education. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 17, p. 108, ¶199a). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1946)

Jung, C. G. (1966). The relations between the ego and the unconscious. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 7, p. 177, ¶202). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1928)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts. Inner City Books.