by
Dany G. Charbel Msc
Robert W.D. Gorter, MD, PhD
13th September 2024
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and a fierce criticist of society and religion. He was the founder of Psychoanalysis. Freud is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His theories and methods are applied till today. Since Sigmund Freud developed his psychoanalysis towards the end of the 19th century, and defined the concept of “Libido” much has been said and postulated about sexual function in humans and about libido.
What is libido?
Libido is a person overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Sex drive is determined by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, levels of hormones such as testosterone affect sex drive; social factors, such as work and family, also have an impact; as do internal psychological factors, like personality and stress. Sex drive may be affected by medical conditions, medications, life style and relationship issues. A person who has extremely frequent or a suddenly increased sex drive may be experiencing hyper-sexuality, or puberty in which the body increases and builds up several hormones and causes a higher sex drive. Asexual people may lack any of these sexual desires.
Paraphilic disorders (sexual perversion)
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), paraphilic disorders are often misunderstood as a catch-all definition for any unusual sexual behavior. In the upcoming fifth edition of the book, DSM-5, the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group sought to draw a line between atypical human behavior and behavior that causes mental distress to a person or makes the person a serious threat to the psychological and physical well-being of other individuals. While legal implications of paraphilic disorders were considered seriously in revising diagnostic criteria, the goal was to update the disorders in this category based on the latest science and effective clinical practice.
Paraphilic disorders are recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, urges or behaviors that are distressing or disabling and involve inanimate objects, children or nonconsenting adults, or suffering or humiliation or a person or a partner, with the potential to cause harm.
List of paraphilic disorders
- Voyeuristic disorder.
- Exhibitionistic disorder.
- Frotteuristic disorder.
- Sexual masochism disorder.
- Sexual sadism disorder.
- Pedophilic disorder.
- Fetishistic disorder.
- Transvestic disorder.
- Satanic rituals, including sacrificing children
Agression
Aggression in psychology refers to behaviors that could harm oneself and others or could affect objects in the environment. This harm can be physical, emotional or psychological.
According to psychology, potential reasons implicated in the causes of aggression include neuronal and hormonal mechanisms, family dynamic issues, genetic, ethological, and evolutionary explanations, and social learning theory explanations. Psychology also explores the influence of institutions on aggression and media influences.
Hatred and Envy
Two powerful psychoanalytic models root violence in the individual’s struggle with excessive hatred and envy born of adversity that generates overwhelming affect and simultaneously impairs the development of mental structures of morality necessary to deal with these. Kernberg (1989, 2004, 2014) has developed a complex understanding of antisocial behavior including violent acts, linking it with his sophisticated model of personality organization, and focuses on degrees of superego pathology. In contrast to Kernberg, and Rauchfleisch (2008) argues that antisocial individuals do have a superego; however, dissociated parts alternate, ranging from childlike omnipotent phantasies to sadistic persecution of the Self. Both authors focus on the relation between pathological narcissism and the experience of extreme rage, hatred, and envy in the face of others who seem to have everything that the antisocial personality wishes for.
Pathological narcissism is regarded as a personality organization that evolves in the face of very neglectful and abusive early attachment experiences. Individuals with this narcissistic syndrome suffer from severe feelings of inadequacy alternating with feelings of grandiosity. The grandiose self is centered on three building blocks (Rauchfleisch, 2008a):
1) The belief that one is special;
2) Ideas of achieving power, wealth, omnipotence, omniscience, etc.; and
3) Phantasies of unlimited love, caregiving, and unlimited supply from others.
This fantasy refuge is often the opposite of the individual’s real-life experience of pain, neglect, rejection, and pervasive lack of affection. Antisocial adults with a grandiose self, report pseudo-logically about their current life and tend to reframe their miserable settings in a grandiose manner. At the same time they feel a chronic emptiness as well as an absence of fulfillment and meaning in their lives.
Family Dynamic and Aggression
Family serves as an important mechanism for care and support, but it may also create the basis for psychological problems. Anger and aggression experienced within the family context can be harmful to an individual, which may have effects throughout one’s life. Family conflict may arise from repetitive anger and aggression in the family environment. Individual characteristics, the specific relationship between individuals, and the roles taken in a family are important contributors for anger to arise. Developmentally, how anger is expressed in a child’s family is an important factor. The expression of anger is related to psychological disorders, especially depression, among adolescents. Anger affects both children and parents in the family context. Children’s anger-related behaviors may be related to marital conflict and parental behaviors. Besides, when the child observes a way of expressing emotions like anger from parents, they are likely to express their own emotions in the same way, which may also lead to violent actions. Anger is also a frequent emotion considering the co-parenting of divorced parents. Despite all these negative effects, family is one of the most important mechanisms that support an individual’s life in many ways.
The snake, itself, is the ultimate symbol of the “tension of opposites,” (soul and libido, male and female, Eros and Thanatos, coiling and uncoiling). It is, on the one hand, a king of the underworld and a lord of life. Snakes are a symbol of Mother Earth’s female power, enlightenment, and wisdom.
In many ancient civilizations, snakes were revered as symbols of metamorphosis, regeneration and healing due to heir ability to shed their skin and emerged renewed.
Starting around 350 BC, the cult of Asclepius became increasingly popular. He was admired for serving people despite their class and social status, which was not a common practice by Olympians. Doctors claiming to be the direct descendants of Asclepius referred to themselves as “Asclepiads.” The symbol of a snake wrapped around a staff, which is widely used by modern medical institutions around the world and is modelled on the staff that Asclepius carried
As far as we can trace the individuality of Hippocrates in history, he functioned both as a priest at the temple of Asklepieion as well as a medical doctor. Usually, people looking for help were put to sleep in the temple and during their deep sleep, they united with the Etheric world and thus, overcoming illness and psychologic problems by restoring harmony with the four etheric forces of the Etheric world.
Metamorphosis of Libido (Eros) and Aggression (Thanatos)
One could consider Libido to be split up into Eros and Thanatos. Eros is the will to live and procreate while Thanatos is the ‘aggression instinct’ and leads people to engage in risky behavior and even kill themselves and others. They are in a balance that determines how the libido functions.
Just for clarification, since Libido can express both Eros and Thanatos, one could say that Libido is the instinctual drive (with Eros and Thanatos being the two main subcategories of it).
Healing Processes
Nowadays, the principles of harmonizing patients with himself and the environment and practiced more than 2,800 years ago in Greece could be a model for improving both problems as described here in our times. As most nowadays problems manifest themselves on personal levels as well as on societal levels and are (in our opinion) caused by disconnection with the whole, one should / could develop modern time ways to re-enliven the Hippocrates tradition:
Unification with the whole
References:
Kerenberg,O, Aggression in Personality disorders and Perversions, September 27,2014.
PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved.
DSM 5, diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. American psychological association.