Libido: how did Sigmund Freud define this concept?

Currently the term "libido" is widely used in colloquial language; in this context, this concept is understood as a synonym for sexual desire or impulses.

However, the definition of libido created by Sigmund Freud it does not refer only to sexuality but is broader, and it is essential to understand the rest of his theory.

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Defining libidinal energy

According to the definition proposed by Sigmund Freud, libido is the energy of the drives or instincts that directs all forms of behavior. Initially he affirmed that the libido always had a sexual character and that the rest of the drives were secondary to that of reproduction; however, as he developed his theory, Freud included other types of energy in this concept.

In classical Freudian psychoanalysis the term "libido" is generally used to refer to an affect (or emotion) linked to a specific drive, which can be associated with It or the self. Later this author went on to call the impulses of these classes "life drive" or "Eros", and added another different type of drive: death or Thanatos.

The amount of libido available to the psyche of a given individual is limited. Therefore, mental processes compete with each other to be produced, and some have a very high cost, being able to interfere with others; for example, Freud claimed that the defense mechanism known as repression is especially costly to the mind.

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The concept of libido according to Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung, founder of the school of analytical psychology, identified the concept of libido with psychic energy in general. It would be the manifestation of vital processes, which often takes the form of a desire. Its origin would be the opposition between dualities in the mind, like the one we have mentioned between the Id and the Superego.

Although the definitions of both authors are similar, the Jungian conception of libido is one of the main points of collision between Jung and Freud: while for the father of psychoanalysis libidinal energy is basically sexual, Jung and the Authors who followed in his footsteps believed that libido has a much broader and undifferentiated.

Jung also did not agree with Freud in the conception of the mind as a product of the biological substrate of the organism. Therefore, we can say that the ideas of the most famous of his disciples are characterized by an even more marked mentalism; in this sense it is important to take into account the great influence that religion had on Jung.

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The id, the libido and the pleasure principle

The libido is contained in the id, one of the three structures of the mind described by this author. While the id represents the most basic and primitive part of our being, the ego and the superego emerge throughout the development to satisfy the demands of the organism and the environment and to provide us with a moral conscience, respectively.

The It is governed by the pleasure principle; this means that it directs the behavior towards obtaining immediate pleasure. In addition, this part of the psyche depends on unconscious processes, so that we often do not know what are the impulses that motivate our behavior.

For its part, the Ego is concerned with obtaining gratification taking into account the reality principle. This means that the ego contains the libidinal energy of the id so that his instincts can be satisfied in an adequate way in relation to the rules and demands of the environment, which includes aspects such as long-term reasoning and social judgment.

The superego fulfills the function of a behavioral model for the ego. In this structure reside social norms and values internalized through interaction with other members of the same social group, particularly parents and other figures of authority. Thus, the id's libido pushes the ego to obtain pleasure while the superego prioritizes morality.

The stages of psychosexual development

According to Freud's theory, libido is expressed in different ways depending on the stage of development in which the individual is at a given time. Thus, this author described a series of evolutionary phases that would be common to all human beings; each of them is related to a specific erogenous zone in which the libido would be focused.

Freud described 5 stages of psychosexual development: the oral phase, in which pleasure is obtained through the mouth; the anal phase; the phallic phase, characterized by the Oedipus complex; the latency period, in which the libido is redirected to non-sexual activities through sublimation; and the genital phase, which corresponds to the arrival of puberty and sexual maturity.

Sometimes libidinal energy stagnates at an earlier developmental stage to the current one; Freud referred to this as "fixation." This phenomenon, origin of discomfort and psychopathology, could derive both from the frustration of the libidinal needs at the stage in question and their excessive satisfaction, which can be equally problematic.

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