Definition of cathectic in English:
cathectic
adjective kəˈθɛktɪkkəˈTHektik
Psychoanalysis Relating to cathexis.
Example sentencesExamples
- By October 1977 when the paintings were first exhibited, their cathectic energy had become exhausted - so much so that the presence of these extraordinary pictures was no longer regarded a necessity in Germany.
- Perhaps, dislocated as they are now from their original telos, the cycle could continue to release cathectic energies and be transformed into a nonspecific work of mourning.
- Both neo-colonial and advanced capitalist/colonial states organize and reinforce a cathectic structure based in sexual difference, which they enforce through a variety of means, including legislation.
- The scene describing the woman's encounter with the Latino boy suggests that their relationship has a cathectic dynamic.
- Indeed, it requires a ‘great expense of time and cathectic energy’ during which ‘the existence of the lost object is psychically prolonged.’
Origin
1920s: from Greek kathektikos 'capable of holding'.