Libido | Psychoanalytical Theory | Personality Development | 5 Psychosexual Stages| Urdu / Hindi|

Libido refers to sexual desire, or the emotion and mental energy related to sex. Another term for it is “sex drive. Libido is a term used in psychoanalytic theory to describe the energy created by the survival and sexual instincts. According to Sigmund Freud, the libido is part of the id and is the driving force of all behaviour. While the term "libido" has taken on an overtly sexual meaning in today's world, to Freud, it represented all psychic energy and not just sexual energy Freud believed that the id was the only part of personality present from birth. The id, he suggested, was a reservoir of unconscious, primal energy. The id seeks pleasure and demands the immediate satisfaction of its desires. It is the id that serves as the source of our wants and impulses. How does the libido function in the id? The id is controlled by what Freud termed the pleasure principle. Essentially, the id tries to direct all of the body's actions and processes to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible. Because the id is almost entirely unconscious, people are not even aware of many of these urges. The id demands immediate gratification of even our most basic urges. If the id had its way, you would take what you want, when you want, no matter the situation. Obviously, this would cause some serious problems. Our wants and desires are not always appropriate, and acting on them could have serious repercussions. So, what stops people from simply acting upon their most basic instincts and desires? The ego is the part of personality charged with harnessing the id's libidinal energy and making sure that these urges are expressed in acceptable ways. It's governed by the reality principle, which is focused on helping the person achieve their goals in ways that are realistic and acceptable.2 So, while the libidinal desires of the id might tell you to grab that donut off of the store shelf and start eating it immediately, the ego reigns in this impulse. Instead, you take the socially acceptable actions of placing the donuts in your cart, paying for them at the register, and taking them home before you finally give in to your urge to eat the tasty treat. Adding a further complication to this process is the superego. The superego is the part of the personality that involves the ideals and morals internalized from parents, authority figures, and society. The ego must mediate between the basic demands created by the libido as well as the idealistic standards imposed by the superego. The way in which libido is expressed depends upon the stage of development a person is in. According to Freud, children develop through a series of psychosexual stages. At each stage, the libido is focused on a specific area. When handled successfully, the child moves to the next stage of development and eventually grows into a healthy, successful adult. In some cases, the focus on a person's libidinal energy may remain fixed at an earlier stage of development in what Freud referred to as fixation. When this happens, the libido's energy may be too tied to this developmental stage and the person will remain "stuck" in this stage until the conflict is resolved. For example, the first stage of Freud's theory of psychosexual development is the oral stage. During this time, a child's libido is centered on the mouth, so activities such as eating, sucking, and drinking are important. If an oral fixation occurs, an adult's libidinal energy will remain focused on this stage, which might result in problems such as nail-biting, drinking, smoking, and other habits. Freud also believed that each individual only had so much libido energy. Because the amount of energy available is limited, he suggested that different mental processes compete for what is available. For example, Freud suggested that the act of repression, or keeping memories out of conscious awareness, requires a tremendous amount of psychic energy. Any mental process that requires so much energy to maintain has an effect on the mind's ability to function normally. The goal of psychoanalysis, Freud believed, was to bring the unconscious libidinal urges into conscious awareness. In doing so, such urges could be dealt with consciously without over-relying on the ego's defence mechanisms. Beyond its Freudian origins, the term libido is most often used today in reference to a person's sex drive. The libido involves more than simply the biological desire for sex, but also the psychological and social factors that contribute to sexual activity. The modern usage of the term libido likely stems from Freud's original use of the term to apply to sexual desire. As Freud continued to develop his ideas, however, he began to view the libido as more than just sexual urges and more of a general life instinct that encompasses survival instincts and other motivations as well. Some factors that can influence the libido or sex drive include: medical, psychological and social ones. #libido #sigmundfreud #psychology