Death Drive Research Articles

The Talmudic way of thinking cannot suddenly have disappeared from us. Death instinct, anti-Semitism and Jewish traditions in the foundation matrix of group analysis

One hundred years after the publication of Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Freud, 1920), anti-Semitism is understood as the realization of the (self-)destructive force in its group form of the anti-group (Nitsun, 1996). Foulkes’ secrecy about the impacts of the German National Socialism(NS)-anti-group in his life (unlike Freud and Elias), as well as the libidinal idealization of the group, can be understood as a post-traumatic defence. But, as Nitsun (1996) has demonstrated, the creative potential of the anti-group can help to develop the group if it is analysed by the group, and can also be demonstrated by this example: the analysis of the traumatic effects of the NS-annihilation-anti-Semitism on the history of group analysis may reveal its hidden prophetic and rabbinical traditions in its foundation matrix. In this respect we can think of every group analytical session as a sign that Auschwitz did not win.

The repudiation of femininity

Freud, in 1937, put forward the idea that the repudiation of femininity and the death instinct were factors contributing to the resistance to recovery in psychoanalysis, stimulating much contentious debate. I will illustrate how these ideas have been modified and expanded as both the repudiation of femininity and the death instinct are linked by their envy of the receptive dependence on the good object which lead to a feeling of humiliation and shame in both males and females. When the death instinct is formulated as an anti-life instinct the relationship with envy becomes clearer, the two may indeed turn out to be different aspects of the same thing. In this article I will use clinical material to try to show how the process of negotiating this receptive attitude by repudiating femininity in favour of phallic omnipotence is enacted with perverse behaviour and violence and how, with the help of analysis, the patient may be able to modify their destructive behaviour.

Still ready to give up on life? A longitudinal phenomenological study into wishes to die among older adults

RationaleThere is a paucity of empirical studies exploring wishes to die (WTD) in older adults without a life-threatening disease or psychiatric disorder, especially on how these WTD evolve over time. ObjectiveThis study aims to deepen our understanding of living with a WTD by elucidating multifaceted trajectories of death wishes in older adults without a life-threatening disease or psychiatric disorder. MethodsInterviews were conducted between 2013 and 2019 with Dutch men and women aged 70 and older who expressed a WTD (preferably at a self-chosen moment). Using a phenomenological, longitudinal analysis approach, 35 serial interviews were analyzed. ResultsThis resulted in four thematic meanings following four trajectories, namely: 1) a realized WTD, facing the ultimate decision with both freedom and a sense of fate; 2) an intensifying WTD, reaching a deadlock; 3) a diminishing WTD, experiencing tentative space for new possibilities; and 4) a vanishing WTD, being surprised by an unexpected turn. In the cases examined, the individuals' WTD was characterized by ambivalence and subject to change over time. Fluctuating, often asynchronous patterns of physical, social, psychological, and existential distress were lived intertwined. The WTD should thus be understood as dynamic and unpredictable, often impacted by external circumstances. ConclusionsAn important clinically relevant finding is that even persons with a pronounced WTD can experience openness to new possibilities, leading to a diminished or vanished WTD and/or desire to act on their WTD. Often such changes were related to (re-)establishment of connections with other people and/or society or with themselves. Since most research in this area is cross-sectional, the current longitudinal findings of this study are unique in providing insight into changes over time, thus contributing to the fields of death and suicide studies.

Autonomy and control in the wish to die in terminally ill patients: A systematic integrative review.

Personal autonomy and control are major concepts for people with life-limiting conditions. Patients who express a wish to die (WTD) are often thought of wanting it because of loss of autonomy or control. The research conducted so far has not focused on personal beliefs and perspectives; and little is known about patients' understanding of autonomy and control in this context. The aim of this review was to analyze what role autonomy and control may play in relation to the WTD expressed by people with life-limiting conditions. A systematic integrative review was conducted. The search strategy used MeSH terms in combination with free-text searching of the EBSCO Discovery Service (which provides access to multiple academic library literature databases, including PubMed and CINAHL), as well as the large PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science library literature databases from their inception until February 2019. The search was updated to January 2021. After the screening process, 85 full texts were included for the final analysis. Twenty-seven studies, recording the experiences of 1,824 participants, were identified. The studies were conducted in Australia (n = 5), Canada (n = 5), USA (n = 5), The Netherlands (n = 3), Spain (n = 2), Sweden (n = 2), Switzerland (n = 2), Finland (n = 1), Germany (n = 1), and the UK (n = 1). Three themes were identified: (1) the presence of autonomy for the WTD, (2) the different ways in which autonomy is conceptualized, and (3) the socio-cultural context of research participants. Despite the importance given to the concept of autonomy in the WTD discourse, only a few empirical studies have focused on personal interests. Comprehending the context is crucial because personal understandings of autonomy are shaped by socio-cultural-ethical backgrounds and these impact personal WTD attitudes.

'Wish to die' is independently associated with cardiovascular mortality in later life. Data from TILDA.

There is an established bidirectional relationship between mental and heart health in later life but the link between wish to die (WTD) and cardiovascular mortality is less well-defined. This is a longitudinal study examining the association between WTD and mortality over 9-year follow-up in a large population-representative sample of older adults. Individual-level survey data was linked to official death registration data, divided into cardiovascular and noncardiovascular causes. WTD was defined as answering affirmatively when asked 'In the last month, have you felt that you would rather be dead?' Regression models were used to obtain hazard ratios for the association between WTD at Wave 1 and mortality. Kaplan-Meier plots were used to compare survival across groups. Just over 3% (275/8124) of participants reported WTD. Mortality data was available for 9% of participants (755/8124). WTD was significantly associated with all-cause mortality, with a hazard ratio of 1.41 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00-1.99). Findings were attenuated and no longer significant after excluding participants with heart disease or depression/anxiety/other psychiatric illness. WTD was significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio: 2.14 [95% CI: 1.21-3.78]), even after excluding participants with depression/anxiety/other illnesses but not heart disease. WTD was not associated with an increased risk of death due to non-cardiovascular causes. Older people who report a wish to die have double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease in the following 9 years, even when those with depression, anxiety or other mental health problems are excluded.

DR. JEKYLL DAN MR. HYDE: SEBUAH PENGGAMBARAN DUALISME NALURI KEHIDUPAN DAN KEMATIAN

According to Freud, the life instinct (Eros) and the death instinct (Thanatos) can be compatible despite the fact that the life instinct was purposedly to maintain the continuity of life while the death instinct aims to dispel the life. The purpose of this study is to elaborate the concept of dualism between the life and death instincts in R.L. Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The researcher used qualitative research methods to process and analyze the data. The result of this study found that the main character Henry Jekyll had behaviors which contradict the Victorian norms that made he thought he had dualism within. Jekyll did action to separate the bad sides of him by the chemical practices. The fact that both life and death instincts worked collectively made Jekyll’s plans cannot reach its goals. The madness due to the ideal self-concept which had a tendency towards narcissistic pathology was finally destroyed as a result of colliding with reality. This situation resulted Henry Jekyll lost the meaning of his life as the symbol of psychical death, which at the end of the story, it continued with real death of Jekyll's body.

S. Freud. Aggression: between Eros and Thanatos

The article deals with the concept of aggression S. Freud. Aggression is shown as a biological phenomenon interacting with culture. According to Freud, biological phenomena (including human life) are permeated by two aspirations: the instinct of life and the instinct of death. The purpose of life is death, and life itself is a special case of inanimate matter. Aggression is a manifestation of the death instinct. Since the culture designed to restrain individual and mass aggression is itself permeated with both instincts (Eros and Thanatos), the outcome of the struggle between them is unknown.

Nagon smrti i duhovna kultura

This paper primarily elucidates various connotations of Freud's idea of the death instinct: striving to restore the inorganic condition, repetition compulsion, (self-) destructive behaviour and morality rigour. It further presents Scheler's critique of psychoanalysis and, in this context, it also explains the purpose of his definition of human's essence as an ascetic being and a bearer of spirituality. It notes certain similarities between Freud and Scheler, but it also expresses the position that it is not justifiable to reduce spiritual culture merely to psychoanalytical dynamics of the death instinct, it is not justifiable either to reduce it to a combination of self-destruction and erotic instincts. Theoretical and practical advantages of the presented position of this German philosopher are illustrated by an example of Frankl's logotherapy, by which it was influenced. Finally, it sheds light on the crucial point of Scheler's sociology of knowledge.

A commentary on Freud's paper: "Analysis terminable and interminable"

Although Freud's (1937c) paper, "Analysis terminable and interminable" may seem an unlikely paper to write a commentary for the International Journal of Forensic Psychotherapy, I have chosen this paper with particular reference to the forthcoming International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy (IAFP) conference entitled, "Gendercide—the gender divide". Although much has been written on this paper, I am going to concentrate on two issues that are relevant to the IAFP conference and which Freud put forward to account for his pessimism regarding the efficacy of psychoanalysis, namely the death instinct and, in particular, the repudiation of femininity. I will also relate the relevance of these features to clinical practice.

The Curse of Thanatos: A Freudian Approach to Marsha Norman's 'Night, Mother

Marsha Norman (1947- ) is a well-known American playwright who burdens a heavy task to explore the disturbed psyche of women in the American society. Many of those female figures suffer from the fragile troubled psychology due to social imperfections as divorce, abandonment, unemployment, and lack of communication. These acts will be converted into traumas stored in the unconscious mind as reminiscences, which will indirectly lead to self-destructiveness. Freud attributes the emergence of death instinct to frustration, anger, and depression. This paper will focus on the concept of death from a Freudian perspective; in order to highlight the suicide's motives dominated the main character of Norman's 'Night, Mother. It also demonstrates how Jessie strives to gain her subjectivity and liberty to end her life by committing suicide. Norman has attempted to investigate in this play what threatens and destroys the social and ethical texture of the American family.

Psychodynamic understanding and treatment of patients with congenital disability.

This paper is a follow-up to an article published in 1989 by Cubbage and Thomas. The purpose of that article was to provide a comprehensive analysis of classical Freudian concepts such as castration anxiety, narcissism and self-regard, fear of the loss of love, secondary gain, the death instinct, and ego strength as they related to the treatment and personality development of persons with disabilities. Despite a rigorous review of the literature, an important paper of Freud's with direct and significant implications for persons with congenital or other early-life disabilities was inadvertently overlooked. The purpose of the present paper is to correct that oversight and to provide an almost verbatim synopsis and rehabilitation treatment implications of Freud's (1916) comments on "Exceptions," a character designation that includes persons with congenital or other early-life disabilities that are viewed by the patient as having occurred through no fault of his or her own.

Encounter with Death (II)

Abstract The present article is a sequel of “Encounter with Death (I). An Interrupted Dialogue” (DOI:10.2478/rjp-2020-0013 Rom J Psychoanal 2020, 13(1):197-204) and it aims at exploring the possible psychoanalytical semantics of the double suicide committed by Arthur Koestler in 1983, together with his wife, Cynthia, at their home in London. It tries to relate the tragic event (in the context of Koestler’s previous life-threatening experience in the prison of Seville) to the Freudian death drive and to Imre Hermann’s clinging instinct, as approached in Philippe Van Haute and Tomas Geyskens’s book “From Death Instinct to Attachment Theory”.

Envy: How to Interpret a Mortal Sin?

Abstract Envy has always been a frequent topic in religious scriptures and literature. Freud formulated penis envy as a central element in female psychology. Nowadays this theory has been largely abandoned. Envy, however, continues to keep its position as a central psychoanalytic concept in the form of oral envy. Melanie Klein conceptualized it as a direct derivative of the death instinct. This paper starts with demonstrating examples of envy in literature. The author continues with searching his own life for traces of envy. He then draws on his own clinical practice and on case studies of other analysts. He concludes that a theory, describing envy as directly deriving from the death drive does not do justice to the multiple aspects of the complex emotional state of envy. Anne-Marie and Joseph Sandler’s work on the present and past unconscious as well as Mark Solms’ neuropsychoanalytic research on the unconscious and the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis corroborate this conclusion.

Death-bound subjectivity: Fanon’s zone of nonbeing and the Lacanian death drive

Is there a distinctive form of political agency that emerges from the conditions of ‘death-bound subjectivity’? Fanon’s idea of the zone of nonbeing suggests that this is indeed the case. Yet there is an omission in the secondary literature on Fanon in this respect. While a renowned Fanon scholar like Lewis Gordon usefully explores how the zone can be understood as domain of ontological erasure, he typically fails to elaborate on the revolutionary potential of the concept. The nature of the psychical processes underlying this passage to revolutionary agency remains unclear. Of such agency we might ask: what is the animating factor that underlies, that drives the passionate attachment to such death-bound causes? Lacan’s reconceptualization of the death drive as ethical cause—which, to be sure, represents a dramatic departure from the original Freudian conceptualization of a ‘death instinct’—is presented here as a useful auxiliary concept to Fanon’s zone of nonbeing. With speculative reference to the ethical dimension of the Lacanian death drive as a mode of surplus life which both underlies an unceasing fidelity to a cause and delivers the subject to a zone between life and death, we are able to offer an account of the agency of radical negativity that the zone of nonbeing engenders.

The compulsion to repeat: An introduction

ABSTRACT The Repetition Compulsion has been the source of much controversy and perplexity. From it's clinical introduction in 1914 in Remembering, Repeating and Working Through to it's metapsychological elaboration in 1920 in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, it has occupied a central position in Freud's thinking. Especially in regard to his later work, it can be seen to be intrinsic to his final dual instinct theory, his theories of the Death Instinct, trauma, memory, binding and action and to the clinical challenges and theoretical changes that led to the formulation of his second topography. This paper will trace the evolution of the concept in Freud and in certain post-Freudian authors, especially Edward Bibring, Winnicott and Scarfone.

Introduction: After Beyond…? Freud’s death drive and the future of a better world

Introduction: After Beyond…? Freud’s death drive and the future of a better world

Psychoanalysis, historical injury, and the language of castration: The murder of transgender women of color

Why do transgender women of color’s attempts to deconstruct cisgenderness evoke a murderous reaction? I use the word “infection” to describe the death of transgender women of color because the murderous rage that is involved is like a disease, developing from a psychical infection that refuses containment. Working from Freud’s theory of infantile sexuality, I examine his theory of the death instinct – specifically, the working of the compulsion to repeat. I demonstrate that for Freud the compulsion to repeat is connected to the fulfilment of wishes, and I use this theoretical frame to illustrate that for people of color the time when the experience of racial subjugation was not consciously registered is only possible in dreams. I then engage with Melanie Klein’s theory of projective identification and link it to Freud’s dual instinct theory in order to offer an effective way to articulate that the murderous impulse is a normal part of the human psyche. I believe these theoretical offerings from Freud and Klein can help to prevent the murder of transgender women of color.

Suicidal Ideation in Reg Cribb's play Last Cab to Darwin (2003)

This thesis is an analysis of a play written by Reg Cribb, entitled Last Cab to Darwin (2003). It explored the issue about suicidal ideation which is an irrational mindset by a person who think his lives is not useful for having a terminal illness and to what extent the character and setting contributed to identify the issue. This play related to the concept of Death Instinct (thanatos) by Sigmund Freud. The uses of the theory is based on the interpretation of the text and context of the play. The result of this analysis show the causes of suicidal ideation by two groups. First is suffering. Second is hopelessness.

MORTE DE LACAN

Este artigo tem como objetivo aprofundar o estudo de três temas destacados a partir de uma construção lacaniana em 1955, acerca de seu conceito de Outro. Construção na qual o autor sustenta seu Outro o referido às últimas hipóteses parmenidianas no texto platônico, a um real dito radical e a uma relação com o instinto de morte. Esse caminho visa, por fim, ratificar a tese de que a morte é causa primeira e eficiente do parlêtre. Em outras palavras, intentamos confirmar a proposição de que é possível compreender o problema da morte como primeiro em relação ao impasse sexual e que essa morte deve ser entendida e descrita como causa eficiente do falasser.

Cross-sectional survey of the wish to die among palliative patients in Spain: one phenomenon, different experiences

ObjectiveCultural backgrounds and values have a decisive impact on the phenomenon of the wish to die (WTD), and examination of this in Mediterranean countries is in its early stages. The...