repression

Repression is the act of keeping something out of conscious awareness or out of public life. In psychology, it denotes a defense mechanism whereby distressing thoughts, memories, or impulses are excluded from awareness to reduce anxiety. In political and social contexts, repression refers to measures by a government or other authority intended to suppress dissent, assembly, or cultural expression.

In psychoanalysis, repression was central to Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious, describing painful material that is actively kept from consciousness. Later schools of psychology view repression as a possible process of forgetting, with varying evidence for its existence and mechanisms. It is distinguished from suppression, a conscious restraint, and from dissociation, a more global split of mental processes. Debate continues over whether repressed memories can be reliably recovered and their role in clinical conditions.

In political and social realms, state or institutional repression includes censorship, surveillance, arbitrary detention, torture, and other coercive practices aimed at preventing opposition or social mobilization. Legal and constitutional frameworks can be used to constrain civil liberties, sometimes under the pretexts of security or public order.

Cultural repression describes the suppression of minority languages, religious practices, gender identities, or other cultural expressions in order to maintain social conformity or political power. Repression is a subject of study in human rights reporting, political science, psychology, and sociology, and is often evaluated in terms of causes, methods, and consequences for individuals and communities.