inhibition

n.

1. The act of inhibiting or the state of being inhibited.
2. Something that restrains, blocks, or suppresses.
3. Psychology. Conscious or unconscious restraint of a behavioral process, a desire, or an impulse.
4. 1. Chemistry. The condition in which or the process by which a reaction is inhibited.
   2. Biology. The condition in which or the process by which an enzyme, for example, is inhibited.

A reduction in the rate of a catalysed reaction by substances called inhibitors. Inhibitors may work by poisoning catalysts for the reaction or by removing free radicals in a chain reaction. Enzyme inhibition affects biochemical reactions, in which the catalysts are enzymes. Competitive inhibition occurs when the inhibitor molecules resemble the substrate molecules and bind to the active site of the enzyme, so preventing normal enzymatic activity. Competitive inhibition can be reversed by increasing the concentration of the substrate. In noncompetitive inhibition the inhibitor binds to a part of the enzyme or enzyme-substrate complex other than the active site, known as an allosteric site. This deforms the active site so that the enzyme cannot catalyse the reaction. Noncompetitive inhibition cannot be reversed by increasing the concentration of the substrate. The toxic effects of many substances are produced in this way. Inhibition by reaction products (feedback inhibition) is important in the control of enzyme activity. See also allosteric enzyme.

---

noun

1. A refusal to allow: ban, disallowance, forbiddance, interdiction, prohibition, proscription, taboo. See allow/prevent.
2. Something that limits or restricts: check, circumscription, constraint, cramp², curb, limit, limitation, restraint, restriction, stricture, trammel. See limited/unlimited.

n

Definition: restriction, hindrance
Antonyms: aid, approval, assistance, encouragement, freedom, help, liberation, promotion

---

For more information on inhibition, visit Britannica.com.

Sigmund Freud defined inhibition as "the expression of a restriction of an ego-function. A restriction of this kind can itself have very different causes." This definition appears in the opening pages of Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety (1926d [1925]).

Analogizing from a medical definition of the concept ("restriction of an organ function") does not perfectly express the psychopathological specificity of the notion of inhibition. Thus when Freud states that the "ego-function of an organ is impaired if its erotogenicity—its sexual significance—is increased," (1926d [1925]) this mechanism, which is borrowed from the clinical psychoanalysis of hysteria, provides no psycho-pathological differentiation between the inhibition and the symptom.

In the same volume he also underlines the links between inhibition and the concept of anxiety: "Some inhibitions obviously represent a relinquishment of a function because its exercise would produce anxiety." In this way Freud tries to delineate the concept by comparing it with and distinguishing it from other notions that have been described by analytic theory, as indicated fairly clearly in the title of the work. Apart from the fact that they enable us to isolate a pure form of inhibition—"The libido may simply be turned away"—these efforts lead Freud to distinguish two types of inhibition "as a measure of precaution or brought about as a result of an impoverishment of energy." The study of these different mechanisms enables him to define the modalities of the opposition between inhibition and symptoms: unlike inhibition, "the symptom cannot any longer be described as a process that takes place within, or acts upon, the ego."

This opposition makes it possible to define inhibition as a simple relinquishment at the level of the ego, where the symptom accomplishes a veritable compromise between the ego and the instinctual demands of the id. Freud offers an illustration of this in relation to the horse phobia in the case of Little Hans. In this case, "the inability to go out into the streets was an inhibition, a restriction which his ego had imposed on itself so as not to arouse the anxiety-symptom." The phobic symptom cannot be described as such except when there has been "the replacement of his father by a horse. It is this displacement, then, which has a claim to be called a symptom."

Emphasizing the fundamentally imaginary status of inhibition, Jacques Lacan reviewed his study in the seminar devoted to anxiety by opposing it to the notion of an act. The latter appears as a response of the subject forced to adopt a position in relation to its splitting. Unlike inhibition, the act "après-coup" inaugurates a new transformed subject: "Only action engenders certitude in the subject." By means of this opposition, inhibition appears as an attempt on the part of the subject to defer an option, a choice to be made in relation to its desire. Like Freud's dissatisfied tone in relation to the theories developed in Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety, Lacan's proposed extensions confirm the difficulties of apprehending the concept of inhibition but also its heuristic value.

Bibliography

Freud, Sigmund. (1926d [1925]). Inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety. SE, 20: 75-172.

Lacan, Jacques. (1966).Écrits. Paris:Éditions du Seuil.

—NICOLAS DISSEZ

A personal hindrance to activity or expression. For example, fear of contracting cancer might serve as an inhibition against smoking.

Arrest or restraint of a process.

• competitive i. — inhibition of enzyme activity by an inhibitor (a substrate analog) that competes with the substrate for binding sites on the enzymes.
• contact i. — inhibition of cell division and cell motility in normal animal cells when in close contact with each other.
• end-product i. — see feedback inhibition (below).
• feedback i. — a common way of regulating enzyme activity in which the reaction product (or in the case of a biosynthetic pathway, the product of the reaction sequence) inhibits the enzyme activity. Called also end-product inhibition.
• neurological i. — the intermittency of transmission of nervous impulses depends on variations in the balance between excitation and inhibition, the latter being either pre- or postsynaptic.
• noncompetitive i. — inhibition of enzyme activity by substances that combine with the enzyme at a site other than that utilized by the substrate.

Quotes:

"Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run?" - Germaine Greer

"My defenses were so great. The cocky rock and roll hero who knows all the answers was actually a terrified guy who didn't know how to cry. Simple." - John Lennon

"How very seldom do you encounter in the world a man of great abilities, acquirements, experience, who will unmask his mind, unbutton his brains, and pour forth in careless and picturesque phrase all the results of his studies and observation; his knowledge of men, books, and nature. On the contrary, if a man has by any chance an original idea, he hoards it as if it were old gold; and rather avoids the subject with which he is most conversant, from fear that you may appropriate his best thoughts." - Benjamin Disraeli

Dansk (Danish)
n. - forbud, hindring

Nederlands (Dutch)
remming

Français (French)
n. - inhibition

Deutsch (German)
n. - Hemmung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - απαγόρευση, αναχαίτιση, συγκράτηση, (ψυχολ.) αναστολή, απώθηση, απωθημένο

Italiano (Italian)
inibizione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - inibição (f)

Русский (Russian)
запрещение, сдерживание

Español (Spanish)
n. - inhibición

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hämning (äv. psykol.), inhibition, förhindrande, förbud

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
禁止, 压抑, 禁制

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 禁止, 壓抑, 禁制

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 금지, 억제, 성무집행 금지명령, 소송진행 정지영장

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 抑制, 抑圧, 禁止

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) منع, كبح, نهي, إعاقه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עכבה, מעצור, מניעה, הימנעות, צו האוסר שינוי של זכויות רכוש (בריטניה)‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.