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Under the cover of the notion of discrete hysteria, the text elaborates the question of anti-cathexis in hysteria. This question remained imprecise in Freud’s thinking with regard to the maintenance of repression in hysteria. The question is elaborated in relation to two types of anti-cathexis: one turned outwards that characterizes hysteria, and one turned inwards as a mechanism of the ego to protect itself from excitation. The author suggests that in discrete hysteria, the inward-looking anti-cathexis component stabilizes the way it presents itself, notably in a particular use of the body. On another level, discrete hysteria is characterized by a double polarity: nostalgia for the pregenital level and masochistic entanglement.