Sigmund Freud, a great sage of his time and the father of psychoanalysis introduced the concept of two main primary forces within our psyche.
One consisting of classes of drives that promote survival, creation and social cooperation which he named as Life instincts while other sets of drives led us to destruction, aggression, reliving trauma and eventually death, to which he referred to as death instincts.
The study would later be referred to as The theory of Life and Death drives.
The Concept of Eros and Thanato.
Eros and Thanatos are two terms closely linked to Freud’s theory of life & death drives but were not his own invention but terms introduced by later psychologists referring to his work.
The term ‘Ero’ has it’s origin from the Greek where it refers to a God of love and desire. Thanato on the other hand was a personification of death where he was tasked with taking bodies to the underworld after death.
Ero was associated with Freud’s Life instincts while Thanato was linked to death instincts.
The Concept of Life and Death Instincts.
As discussed above, life instincts were a class of drives associated with survival, creation, harmony and cooperation.
While the term ero is closely linked to sexual activities which is also a form of life instinct, other drives including thirst, hunger and pain avoidance are also included.
Initially, Freud had included the life instincts drives in his structural theory of the Ego, Id and the Superego in which he claimed that the drives from the ID were opposed and regulated by the ego and superego.
He would however later, in his Beyond the Pleasure principle essay, introduce an opposing forces which he named as, death instincts which on the other hand led us to a path of destruction, aggression, trauma reliving and eventually death.
Freud believed that the aim of all life was death.
The Two Opposing energies; Libido and Destrudo.
According to Freud, instinctual drives generated psychic energy, which powers the mind and constantly presses for either direct or indirect release.
In the case of life instincts, Libido is released while on the other hand an opposing form of energy, destrudo would be released to counter the life instincts.
Behaviours associated with life and Death Instincts.
Some of the behaviors associated with life Instincts include;
- Procreation
- Harmony
- Cooperation
- Health wellbeing
- Love
Behaviours associated with death instincts on the other hand included;
Aggressive behaviours turned outward like ; anger, violence etc while those that were turned inwards manifested as self-destructive behaviours like addiction ,self harm and suicide.