October 1, 1930. Dr. Glover: 'Sublimation, Substitution and Social Anxiety'.

The writer discussed at some length existing definitions of sublimation and the confusion ensuing from applying simultaneously different standards of valuation. The relationship of sublimation to symptom-formation (substitution) was then considered, and it was pointed out that, clinically speaking, sublimations seem on many occasions to play a part as conductors for anxiety and obsessional formations. In a sense some sublimations appear to be part of larger and more diffuse symptom-constructions, possibly derivatives from infantile phobias that have appeared to resolve spontaneously. The problem of desexualization was then considered; in general it was maintained that unless we regard sublimation as essentially a 'defensive' process, it is difficult to preserve the term in metapsychological discussion.