Eros and Thanatos

"In every human being there are desires that one would not want to communicate to others and desires that one does not want to confess to himself." (S. Freud)

Many of us have a very reductionist idea of libido: restricted to its sexual interpretation. However, Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, treated this term very differently. He spoke of libido in much broader terms than what we currently know.

Freud defined libido as the energy that comes from drives or instincts that direct our behavior. That said, he differentiated between two types of drives: the life drive and the death drive.

The drive for life refers to impulses that have to do with affections or emotions. Those that invite us to fall in love and reproduce and connect with other people. Freud said this could be associated with what he defined as “id” or “ego”.

On the other hand, we have the death drive. It opposes life and entails some wear and tear. Here we find repetitions that invite us to stumble over the same stone. For example, when we fall in love with the same type of people who end up hurting us.

The two types of drives that Freud established are known as the “life drive” or “Eros” and the “death drive” or “Thanatos.”