Freud, Sigmund

Instincts: The Driving Forces of Personality

Freud believed that all neurotic problems originated in frustrations of the sexual instinct (libido theory). He argued that there are two basic groups of impulsive drives. Life impulses or drives are those forces that maintain life processes and ensure reproduction of the species. The key to these forces is the sexual drive, whose energy force is the “libido.” Death impulses or drives are the source of aggressiveness and reflect the ultimate resolution of all of life's tension in death. Although Freud emphasized the importance of the death drive, his discussion of the development of personality centers around the sexual drive.

Psychoanalytic Techniques

In his early years, Freud used hypnosis and the cathartic method to treat his patients. Nevertheless, he found that many patients could not be hypnotized, so he began asking his patients to concentrate on a particular symptom and try to recall any early experiences that might explain its origins. He called this method free association. He asked his patients to express every thought that occurred to them, no matter how irrelevant, trivial, unimportant, or unpleasant. For Freud, this uncensored reporting was the fundamental element of psychoanalysis. He believed that no idea is insignificant and eventually the associations will lead [Page 407]back to the original problem. Freud observed that many patients were unwilling to talk about painful past events. He labeled this behavior resistance and assumed that it was a symptom of an underlying conflict. During sessions of free association, when resistance occurred, he believed that the analysis was moving in the right direction, that is, uncovering the actual source of patients' problems.

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