ABSTRACT
The “diversion” neurosis consists in diverting the libidinal trend of a neurosis in favour of a struggle against narcissistic wounds. Its symptomatology is based on that of neurosis exploited for narcissistic ends that are identifiable by the psychic pain and fatigue stemming from the wound itself. The struggle, both exciting and co-exciting, for the conquest of the object, which often has to be repeated over and over again, is played out in the ego that is subject to the demands of reality, to the inextinguishable wishes of the id, and to the dangers of the superego. In spite of the repetitive aspect of the vicissitudes of the secondary defensive struggle linked to the oedipal conflict, the substitutive and temporary satisfactions contribute largely to the fluctuations in self-esteem, that is, to the subject's secondary narcissism. In spite of the multiple indications, the analysis of condensations and displacements suggesting such a phobia, the analyst abstained from venturing an interpretation of any kind.
