individual, a strong ego does not allow the id or the superego too much control
over the personality. But the battle is never ending. In each of us, somewhere be-low our awareness, there exists an eternal state of tension between a desire for
self-indulgence, a concern for reality, and the enforcement of a strict moral code.
Libido and Thanatos
The topographic model provides the playing field; the structural model pro-
vides the characters. But what sets Freud ’s system in motion? Freud main-
tained that human behavior is motivated by strong internal forces he called
Triebe, roughly translated as drives or instincts. Freud identified two major
categories of instincts: the life or sexual instinct, generally referred to as
libido , and the death or aggressive instinct, known as Thanatos . Although
Freud originally maintained that the two forces were in opposition, he latersuggested that the two often combine, thus intertwining much of what we dowith both erotic and aggressive motives.
Freud attributed most human behavior to the life or sexual instinct. How-
ever, he used this description in a very broad sense. Sexually motivated beha-viors not only include those with obvious erotic content but also nearly any
action aimed at receiving pleasure. Late in his career Freud added the death
instinct —the desire we all have to die and return to the earth. However, this
unconscious motive is rarely expressed in the form of obvious self-
destruction. Most often, the death instinct is turned outward and expressed
as aggression against others. The wish to die remains unconscious.
Freud was greatly influenced by the scientific thought of his day. Among the
ideas he adapted from other sciences was the notion of a limited amount of en-
ergy. Energy within a physical system does not disappear but exists in finite
amounts. Similarly, Freud argued that we each have a finite amount of psychic
energy that more or less powers the psychological functions. This means that en-
ergy spent on one part of psychological functioning is not available for other uses.Thus, if the ego has to expend large amounts of energy to control the id, it has
little energy left to carry out the rest of its functions efficiently. One goal of Freud-
ian psychotherapy is to help troubled clients release unconscious impulses being
held in check, thereby freeing up energy for daily functioning.
Defense Mechanisms
Freud ’s description of our unconscious minds can be a bit unsettling. Classic
psychoanalytic cases involve such unconscious themes as hatred for one ’s
parents, aggression toward one ’s spouse, incestuous thoughts, memories of
traumatic childhood experiences, and similar notions too threatening for
awareness. The ego attempts to reduce or avoid anxiety by keeping this mate-
rial out of consciousness. Occasionally, people experience what Freud calledneurotic anxiety. These are vague feelings of anxiety sparked by the sensation
that unacceptable unconscious thoughts are about to burst through theawareness barrier and express themselves in consciousness.
Fortunately, the ego has many techniques at its disposal to deal with
unwanted thoughts and desires. These are known collectively as defense
mechanisms . Some of the principal defense mechanisms are reviewed in the“Freud recognized
that most of what is
real within ourselves
is not conscious, andthat most of what is
conscious is not real. ”
Erich Fromm46 CHAPTER 3 The Psychoanalyt ic Approach