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Examples

  • Hence the verbs to cathect, decathect, and hypercathect, the last referring to the defensive manoeuvre (see DEFENCE) of investing in one process in order to facilitate REPRESSION of another.

    Word of the Day 2005

  • This was consistent with Freud’s theory that the goal of grief work was to “decathect” from the dead, a notion that became passé in the 1990s when researchers discovered that people continue to think about and even carry on conversations in their heads or out loud with their deceased loved ones in a way that isn’t necessarily delusional.

    The Truth About Grief Ruth Davis Konigsberg 2011

  • This was consistent with Freud’s theory that the goal of grief work was to “decathect” from the dead, a notion that became passé in the 1990s when researchers discovered that people continue to think about and even carry on conversations in their heads or out loud with their deceased loved ones in a way that isn’t necessarily delusional.

    The Truth About Grief Ruth Davis Konigsberg 2011

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  • To withdraw one's feelings of attachment from (a person, idea, or object), as in anticipation of a future loss:

    He decathected from her in order to cope with her impending death.

    November 13, 2007

  • See dictionary.com

    January 16, 2018