Sigmund Freud's 'return of the repressed'.

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist, who was he creator of the concept of psychoanalysis. This could be split into six continuous segments of study;


1. Human behaviour and experience are largely influenced by irrational drives,


2. These drives are mostly unconscious,


3. Attempts to bring these drives into knowledge are blocked by defence mechanisms,


4. Development is by events from early childhood along with the inherited attribute of personality,


5. Mental issues, like depression or neurosis, can be a result of a conflict between ones conscious and unconscious view of reality,


6. The unconscious material is brought through to consciousness (via e.g. skilled guidance), thus creating a liberation from the effects of this material.


Repression is an attempt, by an individual, to repel and detain their desire to carry out pleasurable instincts by barricading these impulses in the unconscious, keeping them out of the conscious mind. This has been argued to play a role in many mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression.

The Austrians theory of 'The Return of the Repressed' was that traumatic events, mistreatment or even just the baby's rage at not being able to have its desires met immediately from childhood have to be repressed, placed into the unconscious, as they put the individual in a state of depression. However, as the child develops into an adult, these repressed memories slip back into the conscious mind, thus making the individual act upon impulse and desire, drove by these thoughts. These impulsive and desirable acts will often be ones of rage, which is seen through when baby's or toddlers throw temper tantrums, which can later develop into a murderous rage; which is when horror utilises this theory to its advantage.

Freud's theory is significant in the horror genre because it is an explanation for unusual or strange actions from an individual, for example; in Halloween, we see Myers as a young boy, who has just entered his sisters room after she's just had sex. Myers then proceeds to murder his sister. He carries on to escape from a mental institute, thus relating back to Freud's theory that repression leads to mental deficiencies, in where he was being held due to his mental state, and then carries out several murders. Thus proving the fact that memories from his childhood have been repressed and are acting out through his murderous obsession. Michael Myers is almost a figure for the return of repressed emotions; personifying it.