Drive

The growth of object relationships may be studied along either the developmental line of the discharge-object or that of the reflexive-object. The former is the well-known line of development from the need-satisfying object to the constant object and is a study of id-ego relationships. The developmental line of the reflexive-object, on the other hand, follows the history of the introjects and is a study of either ego-superego or ego-ego ideal relationships. It is the latter which constitutes the study of narcissism.

In this survey of literature on the subject, we discuss the question of whether or not and if so to what extent a mature, adult ability to love depends on relevant early experience, or whether it functions as a corrective to unfavorable emotional experience in early childhood. There is no compelling connection between certain disturbances of partner relations and concrete family circumstances in the first years of life.

Increasing clinical experience has allowed the formulation of three psychodynamic viewpoints about the nature of the paraphilic disorder. Paraphilia is a disorder of sexual identity development, often solely of the intention component, that has three characteristics: a long-standing, highly arousing, unusual erotic preoccupation; a pressure to act upon the erotic fantasy; sexual dysfunction with a partner during conventional sexual behavior. Paraphilia is also a disorder of self-regulation characterized by a considerable gap between personal aspirations and behaviors.

This paper discusses the ego functioning and self psychological aspects of falling in love and passionate love. These universal and extraordinary phenomena are conceptualized as representing the activity of the creative imagination in solving problems related to coping with intense narcissistic and libidinal pressures. The work of other authors is reviewed and recast into a metapsychological framework involving ego and superego contributions to the experience, and focused on self cohesion.

This study examined the relationship of type of sexually instigating situation (partner behavior conveying emotional investment or not), relationship stage, and gender to self-reported likelihood of engaging in sexual behavior. Participants (200 female and 122 male college students) read scenarios describing partner behavior in eight hypothetical sexual situations. Five of the sexual situations were proposed to explicitly communicate a sense of emotional investment in the relationship, and three other scenarios were conceived as not explicitly conveying emotional investment.

Interest in both spirituality and complementary therapies is growing, with their inclusion in both daily life and in health care. The concept of spirituality and the delivery of a therapy have a certain synergy as they both espouse a view of the world that recognises the importance of the whole person. Increasingly, clients want their values and beliefs attended to, perhaps choosing a therapy as a pathway to nourish their sense of the spiritual. Consequently working in a holistic way the complementary therapist needs to acknowledge the spiritual dimension of the client.

"The interpretation of dreams" was the first text in which Freud referred to the system of two drives (drive of self-preservation and the sexual drive). In order to understand how this question was at work in Freud's mind, one has to go back to 1898, when Freud began to write the third chapter of "The interpretation of dreams". One can then see, in contrast with Sulloway's assertions, how Freud was inspired by Schiller, whose shadow haunted his dreams between April and December 1898.

The literature on women's sexual desire is reviewed with an emphasis on definitional challenges, an assessment of the empirical basis for the distinction between spontaneous and responsive desire, a reconsideration of the extent to which women's sexual desire is relational in nature, and an exploration of the incentive value of sex for women as a factor partially independent from the experience of sexual desire. Nine recommendations are made regarding research and diagnostic directions.

Both Freud and Lacan have made love the object of scientific enquiry, which is in itself remarkable, since we usually turn this subject over to literary and philosophical treatment. This article discusses Freud and Lacan's contributions to the psychology of love through dialogue with Marcel Proust's seminal novel, Remembrance of Things Past, with special emphasis on the middle sections. The point of departure is love's manifestation in the analytical situation.

Freud's creation of psychoanalysis was, in part, a reaction to the societal, religious morality that denied the ubiquitous drivenness that repeatedly confronted him, the essential animal nature of homo sapiens as had been recently made clear by the theory of evolution. For example, Freud (1933) wrote an aggression, It is a general principle. . .that conflicts of interest between men are settled by the use of violence. This is true of the whole animal kingdom, from which men have no business to exclude themselves.