Difference between revisions of "Libido" - New World Encyclopedia

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Libido, etymologically rooted in Old Latin "libido" (desire, lust) from "libere" (to be pleasing, to please) is defined as a primal psychic energy and emotion that, according to psychoanalytic theory, is associated with instinctual biological urges and which manifest themselves in various human activity, including survival and sexual instincts. Originally a work of well-known psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the concept of libido was also taken up and debated by one of his most notable students and opponents, Carl Gustav Jung.

Freudian Perspective

Sigmund Freud introduced the term and pointed out that libido is the instinctual energy or force that can come into conflict with the conventions of civilized behavior. It is the need to conform to society and control the libido, contained in what Freud defined as the Id, that leads to tension and disturbance in both society and the individual. This disturbance Freud labelled neurosis. Thus, libido has to be transformed into socially useful energy, according to Freud, through the process of "sublimation".

Libido can also be classified as the urge to create life. For humanity, the natural way in which this occurs is through sex. However at a deep unconscious level, the two can be merged as one, given the reason in evolutionary terms for sexual attraction and sex drive. Using this term, the antonym of libido is destrudo.

Reduction in libido can occur from psychological causes such as loss of intimacy, stress, distraction or depression. However, it may also derive from the presence of environmental stressors such as prolonged exposure to elevated sound levels or bright light.

Androgen steroid therapy can cause signicant increases in libido.

Eros

Eros is the Greek word for (especially) romantic or "sexual love". The term erotic is derived from eros.

In Freudian psychology, Eros, also referred to in terms of libido , libidinal energy or love, is the life instinct innate in all humans. It is the desire to create life and favours productivity and construction. Eros battles against the destructive death instinct of Thanatos (death instinct or death drive).

Eros love might best be defined as promoting well-being by affirming that which is valuable or beautiful (Thomas Jay Oord).

Thanatos

In psychoanalytical theory, Thanatos is the death instinct, which opposes Eros. The concept of the "death instinct" was identified by Sigmund Freud. For Freud, Thanatos (although he himself never used this term) signals a desire to give up the struggle of life and return to quiescence and the grave. This should not be confused with the concept destrudo, which is the energy of the destructive impulse (the opposite of libido).

Thanatos is named after the Greek word for "death" (θάνατος). In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personification of death, whose Roman equivalent was Mors. He was a creature of bone-chilling darkness. He was a son of Nyx ("night") and twin of Hypnos ("sleep").

The death instinct (Thanatos, or Death Drive) was defined by Sigmund Freud, in Jenseits des Lustprinzips (Beyond the Pleasure Principle) (1920; English translation 1922).

Freud begins the work considering the experience of trauma and traumatic events (particularly the trauma experienced by soldiers returning from World War I). The most curious feature of highly unpleasant experiences for Freud was that subjects often tended to repeat or re-enact them. This appeared to violate the "pleasure principle," the drive of an individual to maximize his or her pleasure. Freud found this repetition of unpleasant events in the most ordinary of cirumstances, even in children's play (such as the celebrated Fort/Da ("Here"/"Gone") game played by Freud's grandson). After hypothesizing a number of causes (particularly the idea that we repeat traumatic events in order to master them after the fact), Freud considered the existence of a fundamental death wish or death instinct, referring to an individual's own need to die. Organisms, according to this idea, were driven to return to a pre-organic, inanimate state—but they wished to do so in their own way.

In psychoanalytical theory, the death instinct (or death drive) opposes Eros. The "death instinct" signals a desire to give up the struggle of life and return to quiescence and the grave. This should not be confused with a similar urge/force destrudo.

Destrudo, or Destrado, is the energy of the destructive impulse. It is the opposite of libido. While libido is the urge to create, an energy that arises from the Eros (or "life") drive, destrudo is the urge to destroy both oneself and everything else. Destrudo arises from the Thanatos drive, which also is the source of aggression, and death (in Greek mythology, Thanatos is the god of death).

Destrudo is a lesser-known life force, and is usually ignored in place of more well-known and well-defined theories of human emotion. Destrudo can be traced to Sigmund Freud's attempt to explain the actions of soldiers in World War I.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Gabriele Froböse, Rolf Froböse, Michael Gross (Translator): Lust and Love: Is it more than Chemistry? Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry, ISBN 0854048677, (200

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-'''Libido''' , etymologically rooted in Old Latin "''libido''" (desire, lust) from "''libere''" (to be pleasing, to please)in its common usage means [[sexual desire]], however more technical definitions, such as found in the work of [[Carl Jung]], are more general, referring to libido as the free creative, or psychic, energy an individual has to put toward personal development, or [[individuation]].
+'''Libido''', etymologically rooted in Old Latin "''libido''" (desire, lust) from "''libere''" (to be pleasing, to please) is defined as a primal psychic energy and emotion that, according to psychoanalytic theory, is associated with instinctual biological urges and which manifest themselves in various human activity, including survival and sexual instincts.  Originally a work of well-known psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the concept of libido was also taken up and debated by one of his most notable students and opponents, Carl Gustav Jung.
-==Psychology==
+==Freudian Perspective==
 [[Sigmund Freud]] introduced the term and pointed out that libido is the [[instinct]]ual energy or force that can come into conflict with the conventions of civilized behavior. It is the need to conform to society and control the libido, contained in what Freud defined as the [[Ego, Superego and Id|Id]], that leads to tension and disturbance in both society and the individual. This disturbance Freud labelled [[neurosis]]. Thus, libido has to be transformed into socially useful energy, according to Freud, through the process of "[[Sublimation (psychology)|sublimation]]".