Meaning & use
Decathexis
Last updated
In psychoanalytic theory, the withdrawal of emotional investment or attachment from a person, idea, or object.
See it in a sentence
Therapists sometimes describe grief as a slow process of decathexis toward the person lost.
The patient's decathexis from the failed relationship allowed her to move forward.
A note on using this word
The opposite of "cathexis," a Freudian term for the investment of mental or emotional energy in something.
Words with a similar meaning
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Words with an opposite meaning
cathexis
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