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IJP 19:356-356 (1938)

Applied: A. Gross. 'Zur Psychologie des Geheimnisses.' Imago, 1936, Band XII, pp. 202–209.

Abstract

The paper is based on a Short Communication given in 1923 by the author to the Berlin Psycho-Analytical Society on the analytical examination of the unconscious meanings and functions of the 'Secret'. The publication has five sections.

I.Starting from the example of Dostojewsky's 'Youth', the special phantasy-thought is shewn which is associated with the term 'secret'. Then the conception of secret in every-day life, its dynamics and relations to property are examined. Secret as a possession connects the advantages of material property with those of bodily organs, having furthermore the possibility of regeneration. Content and function of the secret have to be discriminated, the one as hidden summary of facts, the other as the mental action of keeping a secret. The author reveals the ambivalent conflict between giving and keeping, raising the question of unconscious identity of secret and secretion. This connection is as well shewn in the linguistic similarity and the word's origin. (Latin secretum, secernere = put apart.)
II.Contains practical analytical observations summarized as follows:—
1Unconsciously there is a near relation between secrets and secretions, but only the content of the former can be identified with the latter.
2The conception of secret is changeable. Its changes correspond to those of the sexual régime.
III.The changes above the anal phase are more closely observed. During puberty, secret plays rather regularly an important part.
IV.Shews the relation of the phenomenon to the infantile sexual life and the Oedipus complex. The author stresses the importance of the child's discovery of this phenomenon and the traumatic influence of mistakes which adults commit, refusing or avoiding explanation.
V.Summarizes the results in six paragraphs.

The author named his publication 'The Secret'. The title was changed by the editor, without the author's knowledge, into 'On the Psychology of the Secret'.

IJP 19:356-356 (1938)

Applied: A. Gross. 'Zur Psychologie des Geheimnisses.' Imago, 1936, Band XII, pp. 202–209.

Abstract

I.Starting from the example of Dostojewsky's 'Youth', the special phantasy-thought is shewn which is associated with the term 'secret'. Then the conception of secret in every-day life, its dynamics and relations to property are examined. Secret as a possession connects the advantages of material property with those of bodily organs, having furthermore the possibility of regeneration. Content and function of the secret have to be discriminated, the one as hidden summary of facts, the other as the mental action of keeping a secret. The author reveals the ambivalent conflict between giving and keeping, raising the question of unconscious identity of secret and secretion. This connection is as well shewn in the linguistic similarity and the word's origin. (Latin secretum, secernere = put apart.)
II.Contains practical analytical observations summarized as follows:—
1Unconsciously there is a near relation between secrets and secretions, but only the content of the former can be identified with the latter.
2The conception of secret is changeable. Its changes correspond to those of the sexual régime.
III.The changes above the anal phase are more closely observed. During puberty, secret plays rather regularly an important part.
IV.Shews the relation of the phenomenon to the infantile sexual life and the Oedipus complex. The author stresses the importance of the child's discovery of this phenomenon and the traumatic influence of mistakes which adults commit, refusing or avoiding explanation.
V.Summarizes the results in six paragraphs.

The author named his publication 'The Secret'. The title was changed by the editor, without the author's knowledge, into 'On the Psychology of the Secret'.