CLASSIFICATION OF DRIVES
Love - pertains to the sexual drives toward the mother or other
EROS and THANATOS: Life and Death Instinct
A. Sexual instinct (eros) – is the life impulse whose energy force is
“libido” (Engler, 2012). It aims to reduce tension and increase
pleasure. The sex drive may come from narcissism and love, sadism
and masochism.
1. Narcissism – Love, and narcissism are closely related because
narcissism involves self-love while love is accompanied by
narcissistic tendencies.
NOTE: In Freud’s book entitled “On Narcissism: An Introduction”
in 1914, he suggested that primary narcissism is the desire and the
energy that drives one’s instinct to survive
a. Primary narcissism (infants and toddlers) - This refers to the
love of self (self-centeredness/autoerotic). This is universal
or common to all. The aim is any pleasurable activity. this
serves as the child’s defense mechanism to protect him from
the hic destruction in the form of fear or hurt that is
experienced during the individuation on separation phase of
personal development.
b. Secondary narcissism (adolescent and adulthood) - This is
not universal; it is common to have a moderate degree of
self-love. The libido is redirected back to the ego.
pathological narcissism is a pattern of thinking and behaving
in adolescence and adulthood which involves infatuation and
obsession with one's self to the exclusion of others.
Pathological narcissism is at the core of narcissistic
personality disorder.
2.
relatives or the person who cares for them, the aim of which is either
repressed or inhibited if found illogical. It could also be directed to
heterosexual love.
3. Sadism - In psychoanalysis, one seeks pleasure by inflicting harm
or humiliating another person. This is dependent on another person.
4. Masochism - It is the reception of sexual pleasure from a painful
experience that can be satisfied by both sexual and aggressive drives.
It is not entirely dependent on another person because it can be given
by others or by themselves through self-inflicted pain.
B. Destructive Instinct (aggression, destruction, or Thanatos) – refers
to the death impulse which aims to bring back the person into an
inorganic state. It aims to reduce tension. This is the unconscious
force that aims to eventually die.
TYPES OF ANXIETY
1. Reality or objective anxiety – It refers to the anxiety or fear of real
threats or danger in the external world.
2. Moral or normal anxiety – A possible guilt may arise when there
is a conflict between the ego and superego. It involves fear of doing
something that violates or contradicts one’s own moral principles, or
values because a feeling of guilt will be experienced.
3. Neurotic anxiety – It is an apprehension of unknown or non-
danger. A worry about self, others, and the future. It is anxiety about
a repressed sexual wish. It is a fear of expected consequences or
punishment for losing control of the id’s urge for inappropriate
behavior. It is an unpleasant feeling involving a possible danger but
no specific object to be afraid of.