Psychic energy

1. Etymology

Psychic energy is Sharp’s synonym redirect to libido. Samuels treats energy and libido as interchangeable (CW 6 ¶778 pointer—verify). Related: energic; progression; depression.

2. Plain summary

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common psychic-energy motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
Sharp redirect → libido; Samuels energy ↔ libido; limited / indestructible; intensity as value; channel shift / compensation; gradient / water metaphor; dual-stamp LIBIDO-1–4 only.

3. Academic elucidation

Hub entry. Authority and §5 sample: libido (LIBIDO folded). No new psychic-energy leaf stamps this pass. Prefer dual-stamp only.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Psychic energy. See libido.

(Sharp, 1991)

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — energy pp. 52–54

energy Jung used this term and 'libido' interchangeably (CW 6, para. 778). … psychic energy is said to be limited in quantity and indestructible…

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986/2013, pp. 52–54)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

• LIBIDO-1 CW 6 ¶778 1921/1971
• LIBIDO-2 CW 5 ¶194 1912/1967
• LIBIDO-3 CW 4 ¶567 1916/1961
• LIBIDO-4 CW 7 ¶345 1928/1966

See also: libido; energic; psyche; psychization; progression; depression; instinct.

References

Jung, C. G. (1961). Psychoanalysis and neurosis. 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. 4). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1916)

Jung, C. G. (1966). Two essays on analytical psychology. 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). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1928)

Jung, C. G. (1967). Symbols of transformation. 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. 5). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1912)

Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 6). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921)

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.