APA Dictionary of Psychology

n. in psychoanalytic theory, the regression of higher ego functions, such as objective thinking, reality testing, and purposeful behavior, with a return to primitive stages of development characterized by magical thinking (e.g., wish-fulfilling fantasies and hallucinations), helplessness, and emotional dependence. Primitivization occurs primarily in traumatic neuroses, in which higher functions are blocked by the overwhelming task of meeting the emergency, and in advanced schizophrenia, in which the ego breaks down and psychic energy is withdrawn from external reality and concentrated on a narcissistic fantasy life. [first used in 1950 by Austrian psychoanalyst Ernst Kris (1900–1957)]