Self-cathexis and other-cathexis. Vicissitudes in the history of an observation

The history is traced of observations made of the phenomena associated with self-cathexis and other-cathexis. Owing to personal and other conflicts in the history of psychiatry and psychotherapy, the development of these observations was disturbed, and they were reobserved and re-described using different terminologies in accounts which have not hitherto been collected and compared. When this is done, a consensus appears which can be stated in a common language to facilitate further accretion of observation, and further research and debate.