Thanatos: What Is The Death Drive According To Sigmund Freud?
Talking about Freud and Freudian psychoanalysis generally implies talking about libido and sexual drive at some point. And the father of psychoanalysis considered that psychic life was mainly linked to this type of drive, with libido being the core of psychic life and vital energy.
However, this drive, also called the life drive or Eros (in reference to the Greek god), is not the only one important to the author. Throughout his work and as he progressed in the formulation of his theory, Freud considered the existence of another type of drive contrary to the first that explains a part of the human psyche. Eros cannot close. We are talking about the death drive or Thanatos about which we are going to talk throughout this article.
Thanatos as a drive: definition of the death drive
The death drive or Thanatos is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud, which is born in contrast to the life drive or Eros and is defined as the unconscious impulse and generator of organic excitement (that is, a drive) that appears as the being’s search to return to the absolute rest of non-existence. It could be considered as the impulse that seeks one’s own death and disappearance.
While Eros seeks to unite and preserve life, in addition to satisfying the libido, Thanatos seeks to satisfy aggressive and destructive impulses, aiming at the disunity of matter and its return to the inorganic state. This impulse often appears in the form of aggression towards others or towards oneself, whether it occurs directly or indirectly. Likewise, while Eros is a force that generates dynamism, Thanatos is characterized by generating withdrawal and seeking rest unless it is associated with eroticism.
Thanatos is not guided by the pleasure principle, like Eros, but by the Nirvana principle: it seeks dissolution, reducing and eliminating excitement not to find pleasure in the solution of conflicts that allow survival and conflict resolution but for find it in dissolution and return to nothingness.
This concept has the particularity of being something that is not directly visible: while Eros or libidinous vital energy facilitates union and action, Thanatos tends to show itself indirectly through projection, through aggression or through of non-action or connection with the world. An example of this is the emission of unhealthy behaviors or the resignation and passive acceptance of some type of aversive event.
Eros and Thanatos do not remain as separate drives but rather continually interact, although It’s about opposing forces: Eros is a force of union and Thanatos of disunity.
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 a large part of the death drive manifests itself by projecting itself outward, generating aggressiveness.
Death drive, not always negative
According to the father of psychoanalysis, both the life drive and the death drive are essential for the human being, they occur in a continuous conflict that in multiple aspects is beneficial for the human being.
Although the idea of the death drive is controversial and may seem aversive, the truth is that for Freud it is a type of impulse necessary for survival.
On a psychic level, the existence of the death drive allows us to separate ourselves from objects, something that in turn makes it possible for us not to identify and merge psychically with them. preserving individuality. There would also be a certain connection with the Oedipus complex, with both libidinous and aggressive aspects towards the parents.
In addition, the aggressiveness resulting from the fusion of both types of drive is evolutionarily advantageous in certain situations, allowing the fight for survival and self-defense.
Likewise, the conflict between the life drive and the death drive is also associated with the moment of orgasm, with Eros being what makes one seek sexual and erotic satisfaction, but sex itself and the moment of climax are linked to a discharge, linked to the idea of rest and return to baseline and there being a certain aggressive component in it.
In fact, authors like Lacan would identify the death drive with the idea of enjoyment, 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, whether one’s own or that of others, can cause.
The death drive can be positive, but it can also be reflected in aspects that are not so favorable for the human being.
Freud would come to consider that the concept of guilt would be linked to the death drive, as well as the perseverance of unhealthy behaviors or even the compulsion to repeat unpleasant acts, such as self-harm or different types of compulsive behaviors. Also the emergence of vital resignation, hopelessness and apathy can be related to Thanatos, as well as rumination and surrender. Likewise, taken to the extreme, this drive can lead to masochistic attitudes or self-lytic ideation or attempts.
And not only at a psychopathological level: the emission of responses of anger, denial and rejection or even resignation in the presence of difficulties, such as suffering from chronic diseases, would also be linked to Thanatos. An example of this would be do something that we know is against our health (for example, a diabetic eating something he shouldn’t, or someone with pulmonary emphysema smoking).
Eros and Thanatos: from mythology to Freud
Freud called the life and death drives Eros and Thanatos respectively, in clear reference to Greek mythology. That is why, 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 in the Greek pantheon, being the god of love, vitality and amorous passion. In most versions of the Greek myth he is the son of the goddess of love Aphrodite and the god of war Ares, although in others, according to Plato in “The Symposium”, he is the son of the goddess of poverty Penia and the god of abundance Poros conceived in celebration of Aphrodite’s birthday (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 Nyx and the goddess of darkness, Erebus. This god, twin of Hypnos, the god of sleep, acted with a certain gentleness, being his gentle touch and being in charge of carrying out the will of the moiras regarding the destiny of mortals when their time came. Despite this, he was a feared being and a force of disunity with life, also linked to resignation to die.
This description can help us see some of the main attributes of the life or 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 regarding the conflict between them. One of them is linked to the death of the nymph Ninfea.
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 pushing him away with her dates. Tired of this, Eros decided to shoot one of her love arrows at the goddess in order to make her fall in love with her, but after the arrow was dodged by Artemis it went to hit one of the nymphs, Nymphaea.
The nymph began to experience a high level of sexual desire and excitement, in an uncontrolled manner, creating a strong conflict between said desire and her own chastity. 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 moment Eros would try to save her, but was stopped by the god of non-violent death, Thanatos. Because of that 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) accounts for the interaction and conflict between vital and destructive energy that is part of our psyche, according to Freudian theory.
