What is Sublimation? (Freudian Defense Mechanism)

This video describes the Freudian defense mechanism of sublimation.
Defense mechanisms, as described by Freud, protect the ego from unconscious drives, thoughts, and impulses that are unacceptable to society, like greed, aggression, and sexual desires. Defense mechanisms keep the unacceptable drives out of conscious awareness. Theoretically, if defense mechanisms operate for too long a time, they can lead to psychopathology or mental health symptoms in general.
Sublimation is considered a mature defense mechanism and it is often thought of as a positive defense mechanism. Many of the defense mechanism are thought of as negative. Sublimation takes the unacceptable urges, impulses, and thoughts that reside in the unconscious mind and converts them into socially acceptable, positive behavior. This is often thought of in terms of career choice. For example, someone with aggressive urges could become an athlete. Someone with unacceptable sexual desires may sublimate that desire into creativity by being an artist. With the defense mechanism of sublimation, there is typically congruence between the unacceptable drive and the career choice.

[tsbcmhc]

Freudian concepts are always interesting to me. I enjoyed learning that sublimation is when unacceptable urges of the unconscious mind are converted them into socially acceptable positive behaviors. When explaining congruence, the example used of "urges of aggression" leading a person to become an athlete in a "contact sport" really helped me understand the concept.

[virginiamurrey]

It is interesting to hear that defense mechanisms lead to mental health symptoms when they are used too often. I have read about sublimation in a textbook, however this video brought more clarity to it, and how it is related to the unconscious mind.

[Zuzana]

Thank you very much for this information. It is recognized a lot that Freudian ideas are not only correct according to nowadays theories. but from what I have run to, they are not usually accompanied by constructive critisism of this kind.

[kelly]

I have never heard of this before and it seems interesting. I can see Freud thinking of something like this, especially with his mindset that stems off of the way people in his time did not talk about certain things, how a lot of things were considered taboo.

[rrfirefly]

Alchemy. A high school friend accused me one day in psychology class of being a sublimator. I did not fully understand the term so I thought he was passing some kind of judgement. Now I see that he meant this as a compliment. What I think he intended to say was that I had the facility to direct my energies into very creative undertakings. Back then I had a reputation of being a prolific writer and artist.

[jorden]

I don't think sublimation and behaviourism are necessarily at odds. Antisocial urges would be socially undesirable (and hence a punishment), whereas if these urges are sublimated, they become socially positive and thus a reward. I think it is a word that essentially describes this process.

[claudioabado]

I learned a few interesting ideas from watching. Thank you!

[christopherebhabha]

If you peel back from adulthood to childhood, especially at first to third grade, you will catch glimpses of sublimation in yourself based on many choices you made in many circumstances. How we also choose roles to fit into families, will also reveal what were pushed away into the unconscious!

[jackiesorrells]

Interesting that seemingly aggressive action is essentially channeled through athletics for instance.

[johnharrisjr]

So if a person had an urge of aggression could a positive outcome be the person becoming a professional boxer?

[veronicabetz]

It is not always possible to read/know when these impulses are at play because they are subconscious. So how does one know if the positive action is actually working on that particular negative impulse?

[wandamixon]

I do not know that I agree with the concept of sublimation. What I did not recall was that the original impulse is congruent with the transferred action/behavior or career.

[RemixxGlamGal]

Interesting.. we have to “act out” this mechanism tmr in class

[criticalcherry]

Thank you for the explanation! I appreciate your coherent critique of popular and current understanding of sublimation.

[jeremyseligson]

Sometimes they can know, just by reflecting. There is a way to access, by remembering where the impulse began in childhood for example.
You are too absolute. Case by case, some can tell you and some can't.

[kikixiong]

I’m very interested in how we measure or discover sublimation of a person

[JoeDirt-elfr]

So this applies to anything someone takes a uses for good? For instance someone dealing with anger can go to the gym and workout?

[janicedixon]

So sublimation is basically substituting unacceptable urges with acceptable urges without having knowledge of it?

[abrvalg]

Freud has discovered those mechanisms not invented (imagine how abused he should have been to come up with so many).

[troywheeler]

I find “guilt” the impetus of sublimation.