Romance as Rebellion - On Freud on Love

Sigmund Freud is generally remembered idiosyncratically for his concentration, not on love, but sex. Psychoanalysis, it is quipped, makes everything about sex. I was surprised then, to read #freud refer to the libido, not as a sexual force, but one of love - “Love-force, the libido of psychoanalysis” (p. 30) he calls it. In all the dimly lit, mahogany and marble-incrusted obscurity of the #psychoanalytic image, Freud was a lover. And in Group #Psychology y & The Analysis of the #Ego , Freud reminds us of the unique connective power of dyadic heterosexual #love .
From the psychoanalytic perspective, when sexual impulses do not find their explicit resolution, they morph into the spectrum of emotional experiences classically associated with love, including yearning for nearness and openness to self-sacrifice. According to Freud, love within the heterosexual union is the combined force of direct sexual release and inhibited (frustrated) sexual energy. When speaking of the above experiences of romance, Freud states:
“All these tendencies are an expression of the same instinctual impulses; in relations between the sexes these impulses force their way toward sexual union, but in other circumstances, they are diverted from this aim or are prevented from reaching it” (Freud, 1960, p.29).
#sigmundfreud #psychologyandreligion #psychoanalysis #sigmundfreudquotes #psychology #philosophy #psychodynamic #romance #psychologyofrelationships #psychologyoflove #socialcontagion #socialcontrol #emotionalcontrol #cult #cultpsychology #socialpsychology #exjw