For Freud disgust is one of the psychological forces that polices the borders between the conscious, and the pre- or unconscious, realms. Freudian disgust thus has a structuring role whereby it acts as a safety-valve between these different psychical realms. This means much of what is too revolting to think of is kept in check by our automatic disgust-force; but, at the same time, some of the disgusting must (if one does not wish to fall ill, neurotic) and therefore often does find some release through our sublimative forces, such as in the phenomenon of (obscene) jokes.

In order to situate disgust fully we will need to carry out analyses with regard to Freud's metapsychology, his theory of (childhood) sexuality and perversion, as well as his reflections on the powers of the civilizing process. Such insights will show that human reality is immersed in an incessant process whereby structural forces like disgust not only explicate the subtle interplay between repression and sublimation, but also show how any concept of (ab)normality often plays itself out on an imaginary knife-edge between too much disgust (neurosis), and too little (perversion).