Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe withdrawal of a person within a routine that they cannot escape, a forerunner of pathological melancholia.
Tellenbach himself explains the melancholic phenomena of includence in terms of the characteristics of the pre-melancholic personality that society explicitly sanctions and promotes.
2008, Thomas Rütten, “Rufus’ Legacy in the Psychopathological Literature of the (Early) Modern Period”, in Peter E. Pormann, editor, On Melancholy: Rufus of Ephesus, →ISBN, page 248, n. 162 more examples
In this context two constellations emerge that characterize the pre-melancholic phase, namely includence and remanence, followed by the radical transformation of the self–world relation into despair.
2017, Giovanni Stanghellini, Milena Mancini, The Therapeutic Interview in Mental Health: A Values-Based and Person Approach, →ISBN, page 139Moving from Tellenbach[’s] description of the Typus Melancholicus, we can observe an ongoing evolution toward endogenous depression starting with a pre-melancholic phase. In this stage, three main elements can be described: includence, remanence, and despair.
2020, Giuseppe Sarli et al., “COVID-19 related lockdown: a trigger from the pre-melancholic phase to catatonia and depression, a case report of a 59 year-old man”, in BMC Psychiatry, volume 20, →DOI
Origin
- Latininclūdō“confine, imprison”
- GermanInkludenz
- Englishincludence
From German Inkludenz, a 1960s neologism coined by Hubertus Tellenbach, derived from Latin inclūdō (“confine, imprison”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
includence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/includence
“includence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/includence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “includence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/includence.
Source: includence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.