scotomizationn.
/ˌskəʊtəmʌɪˈzeɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌskoʊdəməˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˌskoʊdəˌmaɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/ Psychology and Psychoanalysis.
The avoidance or denial of an undesirable reality through the creation of a mental ‘blind spot’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > sublimation of libido > [noun] > repression
suppression1896
resistance1905
repression1909
scotomization1927
1927 R. Laforgue in Internat. Jrnl. Psycho-anal. 8 473 In an earlier work I have defined scotomization (or the forming of mental ‘blind spots’) as a process of psychic depreciation, by means of which the individual attempts to deny everything which conflicts with his ego.
1954 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 45 233 This criticism [of horrific test pictures] does not imply any scotomization of the capacity of the child..to conceive of the horrible.
1976 Jrnl. Health & Social Behavior 17 130/2 If perceived dependence is low, i.e. a forced alternative to family participation is not seen to be an essential threat to the wife's sociopsychological balance, this scotomization does not take place.
2000 MLN 115 952 Freud will begin by distinguishing between terms: disavowal is not ‘scotomization’, a pathological (neurotic) process, which he here equates with ‘repression [Verdrängung]’. ‘Scotomization’ (repression) refers to the creation of a blind spot.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1927