Fixation is a concept in psychology that refers to a persistent focus of an individuals pleasure-seeking energies at an early stage of psychosexual development). Fixation occurs when an issue or conflict in a psychosexual stage remains unresolved, leaving the individual focused on this stage and unable to move onto the next. Fixation can be related to an attachment to people or things that persist from childhood to adulthood. Fixation can be seen as inherently pathological, blocking potential sublimation by way of repression).

Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of fixation in his psychosexual developmental stages. According to Freud, if an individual fails to fulfill any need at any stage, they are fixated at that stage. Fixations can occur in different stages of development, such as oral, anal, phallic, and genital stages. For example, individuals with oral fixations may have problems with drinking, smoking, eating, or nail-biting. Fixations can lead to adult personalities that are overly vain, exhibitionistic, and sexually aggressive.

Psychoanalytic therapy involves producing a new transference fixation in place of the old one). The new fixation may be very different from the old, but will absorb its energies and enable them eventually to be released for non-fixated purposes). Fixations were important to Freud because they were seen as the cause of many neuroses).

In summary, fixation is a concept in psychology that refers to a persistent focus of an individuals pleasure-seeking energies at an early stage of psychosexual development. Fixation can occur in different stages of development and can lead to adult personalities that are overly vain, exhibitionistic, and sexually aggressive. Psychoanalytic therapy involves producing a new transference fixation in place of the old one.