Déjà Vu and Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysts have also contributed to the study of déjà vu. They have not, though, following Freud's lead, been so interested in the mechanism involved in bringing déjà vu about. They have rather wanted to know what part it plays within the psychic economy as a whole: what its function is, what is achieved with it. They had a number of interesting ideas to offer, as we shall see, but unfortunately most were based only on individual patient experiences, not on survey data.

In 1904 Freud made a trip with his brother to Athens and visited the Acropolis. There he had an experience of derealization, as if what he was seeing was not real. He recounted this in a letter published in 1936 entitled "A Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis". Therein he distinguished derealization from the related phenomenon of depersonalization, in that with the former a piece of outer reality feels strange, while with the latter a piece of one's own self seems foreign and unfamiliar. He then went on to remark that in déjà vu " ... we seek to accept something as belonging to our ego, just as in the derealization we are anxious to keep something out of us." (p. 245) He continues and says that the latter, then, is a defense mechanism.

Subsequent psychoanalytic authors have also insisted that déjà vu be considered a defense mechanism, but they have differed as to what constitutes the antagonist. Bergler (1942) said that Freud and Ferenczi (1955) believed the ego used déjà vu experiences to avoid id impulses. He himself offered examples where it seemed that pangs of conscience (super-ego) were being resisted. Arlow (1959) thought it could involve repression and reassurance in the face of anxiety ("I've been through this before and came out okay.") and an attempt at omnipotence ("I knew it all along:"). Feniche1 (1974) saw repressed memories as a possible source of the anxiety. Marcovitz (1952) wrote that déjà vu was the expression of a wish for a second chance, to be back in the same situation again.

C G Jung (1951/1964) was so impressed by instances of déjà vu, precognitive dreams, and what he referred to as meaningful coincidences, that he developed (with Prof Wolfgang Pauli, the famous quantum physicist) his theory of synchronicity, an acausal connecting principle. Those interested are referred to Dr von Franz's 1974 book, Number and Time, for greater detail.

I shall close this brief overview here. There has not been space to cite all the authors who have contributed to the knowledge and speculation concerning déjà vu (I had 155 references in my 1981 dissertation ), but I hope I have managed to provide enough material for those wishing to have some orientation in the literature and theories concerning this fascinating, unsettling, and as yet still relatively obscure experience.

(Reference information for the works cited here is available on request.)