Drive theory, redux: a history and reconsideration of the drives

Conrad, Jordan A.

doi:10.1080/00207578.2020.1848389

Cited by 4 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Significance of differentiation of a drive and an instinct was earlier elaborated by Laplanche and Pontalis (1973b). Conrad (2021), Sikora 10.3389/fnhum.2022 to whose work I am indebted, believes that "the drives no longer occupy a preeminent position in the psychoanalytic theoretical landscape" because many analysts think that they are "simultaneously too abstract and too simple to be a serviceable concept." Although, this may be true for some schools of psychoanalysis, there are also prominent analysts who have been of the opposite view, among them Segal (1985), Feldman (2000), Green (2015a), Bell (2017).…”

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Together with ideas (qualitative part) they constitute the vicissitudes of the drives. Conrad (2021) writes "[drive]. .…”

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further XIX century considerations on motivation brought about a better understanding of the complexity of it, including the works of Spencer (1870) , Schneider (1880) . Conrad (2021) summarizes it as follows: “a spectrum from animal to human as the progressive increase in complexity of motivation, with the simplest animal organisms experiencing feelings purely mechanistically, more complex animals being motivated perceptually, still more complex animals being motivated by representations, and finally the most complex animals (i.e., humans) being motivated by thoughts” (ibidem, p. 496). At the same time, Schopenhauer (1958) made instinct central to his understanding of human will.…”

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aims and objects are changing and the outcome of such development varies ( Freud, 1905 ). [for more arguments for differentiating instinct and drive see Conrad, 2021 , p. 499–503].…”

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Together with ideas (qualitative part) they constitute the vicissitudes of the drives. Conrad (2021) writes “[drive]…arouses an affective state that serves to evaluate the world in such a way that makes the salience of the object justified” and I would add to make object “desired.” Therefore, we could say that the crucial process in forming drive’s “content;” that is: aim, object and accompanying affect, is cathexis (Besetzung). Freud has never given a rigorous definition of this term; however, it is widely understood that it is a process which creates intentionality and a value object ( Laplanche and Pontalis, 1973a ).…”

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An economic model of the drives from Friston’s free energy perspective

Sikora¹

2022

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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This paper is focused on the theory of drives, particularly on its economic model, which was an integral part of Freud’s original formulation. Freud was aiming to make a link between the psychic energy of drives and the biophysical rules of nature. However, he was not able to develop this model into a comprehensive system linking the body and the mind. The further development of psychoanalytic theory, in various attempts to comprehend the theory of drives, can be described as taking different approaches. Some of them equate drives with bodily impulses, others abandon the economic model, a few stay with Freud’s original model. I believe that the Friston notion of free energy and the hierarchical model of the brain allows us to develop this model and to integrate the economic model into some contemporary theories of drives. I argue against those theories equating drives with biological impulses. My arguments are supported by Freud’s project itself but also by recent developments within neuro-psychoanalysis describing the process of mentalizing homeostasis, interoceptive signals and relations with caregivers. I argue for those theories which see the drives as psychic forces, which through developmental processes and cathexes acquire aims and objects, and become intertwined with impulses originating internally and externally, such as affect, interoceptive impulses, perception of the external world, and impulses from erotogenic zones in particular. Here, I present my analysis of the compatibility and consistency of free energy and the hierarchical model perspective, and two psychoanalytical traditions of thoughts: French psychoanalysis and the post-Kleinian school of British psychoanalysis. In particular, my analysis focuses on the contemporary Kleinian notion of unconscious phantasies, especially Bronstein’s description of their semiotic aspects. Secondly, I look at Segal’s view of drives as dialectic forces of adaptation vs. conservatism. Analyzing the French tradition, I focus on Green’s perspective on the drives, Lacan’s distinction between drives and desire, and Penot’s description of the process of subjectivation. I conclude that free energy, as described by Friston, can be seen as a source of the drives’ energy and the process of minimizing it is an equivalent of what Freud described as binding the free energy, in which psychic unbound energy acquires distinctive features and becomes bound.

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Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Together with ideas (qualitative part) they constitute the vicissitudes of the drives. Conrad (2021) writes "[drive]. .…”

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aims and objects are changing and the outcome of such development varies ( Freud, 1905 ). [for more arguments for differentiating instinct and drive see Conrad, 2021 , p. 499–503].…”

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theory Of the Drivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An economic model of the drives from Friston’s free energy perspective

Sikora¹

2022

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Autoimmunity and its expression in the analytic situation: A contemporary reflection on our inherent self-destructiveness

Winters

2022

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

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Frontiers in psychodynamic neuroscience

2023

Frontiers Research Topics

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Drive theory, redux: a history and reconsideration of the drives

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

An economic model of the drives from Friston’s free energy perspective

An economic model of the drives from Friston’s free energy perspective

Autoimmunity and its expression in the analytic situation: A contemporary reflection on our inherent self-destructiveness

Frontiers in psychodynamic neuroscience

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