Talking about Freud and Freudian psychoanalysis usually means talking about libido and sexual drive at some point. The father of psychoanalysis considered that psychic life was mainly linked to this type of drive, with libido being the nucleus of psychic life and vital energy.

However this drive, also called the drive for life or Eros (referring to the Greek god), is not the only one important to the author. Throughout his work and as he advanced in the formulation of his theory, Freud considered the existence of another type of drive, contrary to the first, which explains a part of the human psyche that Eros cannot close. We are talking about the death drive or Thanatos , about which we will talk throughout this article.

Thanatos as drive: definition of death drive

The death drive or Thanatos is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud , that is born in opposition to the life drive or Eros and that is defined as the unconscious impulse and generator of organic excitation (that is to say a drive) that appears as the search of the being to return to the absolute rest of nonexistence. It could be considered as the impulse that seeks one’s own death and disappearance.

While Eros seeks to unite and preserve life, as well as satisfy the libido , Thanatos seeks to satisfy aggressive and destructive impulses, aiming at the disunion of matter and the return to the inorganic state. This impulse often appears in the form of aggressiveness towards others or towards oneself, whether it occurs directly or indirectly. Likewise, while Eros is a force that generates Thanatos dynamism, it is characterized by generating withdrawal and the search for rest unless it is associated with eroticism.

Thanatos is not guided by the principle of pleasure, like Eros, but by the principle of Nirvana: it seeks to dissolve, reduce and eliminate excitement not to find pleasure in the solution of conflicts that allow survival and conflict resolution but to find it in dissolution and return to nothingness .

This concept has the particularity of being something not very visible in a direct way: while Eros or libidinous vital energy facilitates union and action, Thanatos tends to show itself in an indirect way through projection, through aggression or through non-action or connection with the world. An example of this is the emission of unhealthy behaviours or the resignation and passive acceptance of some type of aversive event.

Pulsional Fusion

Eros and Thanatos do not remain as separate pulses but interact continuously, although they are opposite forces : Eros is a force of union and Thanatos of disunion.

Although part of the death drive remains disjointed, something that generates a gradual drift towards death, the fusion of this with Eros has the consequence that much of the death drive is manifested by projecting itself outwards, generating aggression.

Death drive, not always negative

According to the father of psychoanalysis, both the drive for life and the drive for death are indispensable for the human being and present themselves in a continuous conflict that is beneficial to the human being in many ways.

Although the idea of death drive is controversial and may seem aversive, the truth is that for Freud it is a kind of impulse necessary for survival.

On a psychic level, the existence of the death drive allows us to separate from objects, something that in turn makes it possible for us to not identify and merge psychically with them, while preserving individuality . There would also be a certain link with the Oedipus complex, there being at the same time libidinous and aggressive aspects towards the parents.

In addition, the aggressiveness resulting from the fusion of both types of drive is advantageous in certain situations , allowing the struggle for survival and self-defense .

Likewise, the conflict between the drive for life and the drive for death is also associated with the moment of orgasm, with Eros being what makes one seek sexual and erotic satisfaction, but the sex itself and the moment of climax are linked to a discharge, linked to the idea of rest and return to basal, and there is a certain aggressive component in this.

In fact, authors such as Lacan would identify the death drive with the idea of jouissance, of satisfaction in the face of what should generally cause us displeasure . This partly explains the satisfaction that something like revenge, sadism or even suffering can cause, whether it is one’s own or another’s.

In pathology

The death drive can be positive, but it can also be reflected in aspects that are not so favourable to human beings.

Freud would come to consider that the concept of guilt would be linked to the death drive , as well as the perseverance of unhealthy behaviours or even the compulsion to repeat unpleasant acts, such as self-aggression or different types of compulsive behaviour. Also the emergence of life resignation, hopelessness and abulia can be related to Thanatos, as well as rumination and claudication. Likewise, taken to the extreme, this drive can lead to masochistic attitudes or to autolithic ideation or attempts.

And not only on a psychopathological level: the emission of responses of anger, of denial and rejection or even of resignation in the presence of difficulties, such as suffering from chronic diseases, would also be linked to Thanatos. An example of this would be doing something that we know is against our health (for example a diabetic eating something he shouldn’t, or the fact of smoking in someone with pulmonary emphysema).

Eros and Thanatos: from mythology to Freud

Freud called the life and death drives Eros and Thanatos respectively, in clear reference to Greek mythology. Therefore, in order to conclude the article, it may be interesting to analyze the deity that symbolizes them.

Eros is one of the best known deities of the Greek pantheon, being the god of love, vitality and loving passion. In most versions of the Greek myth he is the son of the goddess of love Aphrodite and the god of war Ares, while in others, as Plato tells in “The Banquet”, he is the son of the goddess of poverty Penia and the god of abundance Poros conceived on the occasion of Aphrodite’s birthday celebration (something that could be related to different types of love relationships).

Thanatos on the other hand is the god of non-violent death, son of the goddess of the night Nix and of the darkness, Érebo . This god, twin of Hypnos, the god of sleep, acted with a certain gentleness, being his soft touch and being charged with the fulfillment of the will of the moiras regarding the fate of mortals when their time came. In spite of this, he was a feared being and a force of disunion with life, also linked to the resignation to die.

This description can show us some of the main attributes of the life and death drives. But mythology allows us to see not only that the attributes associated with these gods are antagonistic but also that there are some myths concerning the conflict between them . One of them is linked to the death of the nymph Nymphs.

The myth tells us that Eros, god of love and in some versions of eroticism and passion, tended to approach and incite the goddess Artemis (goddess of hunting as well as virginity) and the nymphs (also virginal), to which the goddess responded by distancing him with her dates. Tired of this, Eros decided to shoot one of his love arrows at the goddess in order to make her fall in love, but after being the arrow dodged by Artemis she went to hit one of the nymphs, Nymphs.

The nymph began to experience a high level of sexual desire and excitement, in an uncontrolled manner, and a strong conflict arose between this desire and the chastity that was proper to her. This conflict caused her such anxiety that she decided to seek liberation in death, throwing herself into the waters of a lake in order to drown. At that time Eros would try to save her, but was stopped by the god of non-violent death, Thanatos. Because of this Nymphae drowned, being later transformed by Artemis into the first water lily and receiving the gift of reducing passion.

This myth (which has different versions), gives an account of the interaction and conflict between the vital energy and the destructive energy that is part of our psyche, according to the Freudian theory.

Bibliographic references:

  • Corsi, P. (2002). Preliminary approach to Freud’s concept of death drive. Revista Chilena de Neuropsiquiatría, 40: 361-70.
  • Freud, S. (1976). Beyond the Pleasure Principle OC XVIII 1920; 1-62.