“So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is ellipsed”
In 1920 Freud delivered his landmark work “Beyond the Pleasure Principle.” In this work he formulated the concept of an additional human instinct, the Death Drive. Since that time his concept has been contested, criticized and, in other circles, extolled as a useful, valid psychoanalytic concept. Whether you ascribe to Freud's version of a Death Drive or its varied theoretical permutations (e.g. DiMasi, Feldman, Joseph, Rosenfeld etc.), one cannot deny the presence of destructiveness in the array of human existence.
Fueled by biological-instinctual and/or sociocultural factors the Death Drive clearly manifests itself in clinical phenomena as negative therapeutic reactions, vagaries of envy, addiction behaviors, sadism/masochism, dimensions of severe primitive superego, repetition compulsions etc. These aspects have gained consensual validity across many psychoanalytic schools. What is more is that there seems to be no evidence to show that these pernicious issues are waning amongst psychoanalytic practices.
Even more concerning is the increase in socio-cultural manifestations of human destructiveness. In this vein we see the proliferation of mass shootings, intolerance of religious orientation, prejudices towards immigrants, genocidal trends, growing elitism and suicide. Politically, we see the dismantling of democratic structures in the United States, destruction of unification processes in Europe via Brexit (Lackinger) and the rise in authoritarianism and populism in many countries such as Italy, Turkey and Poland.
One of the most serious reflections of the Death Drive is the rapid destruction of the planet Earth itself, evidenced by climate change. We are at (some say beyond) a tipping point of unrepairable damage to our planet, a crime emanating from a psychotic dimension of the human psyche (Moss et al, IPA Congress ) that denies reality (scientific evidence) and resorts to omnipotence (more money, more territory and “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS”). Nowhere is this better evidenced than within the current United States Presidential administration (abetted by the US Senate) that labels climate change as “fake”, withdraws from international alliances to fight climate change and dismantles the Environmental Protection Agency. These chants have become “the new normal”, dulling popular consciousness as only the Death Drive can do.
In so many aspects the Death Drive is alive and well and not so silent. Nonetheless, what can we, as psychoanalysts, do in the face of such powerful forces? Clinically, I believe we can re-dedicate ourselves to the democratic process that true psychoanalysis promotes. Psychoanalysis can ensure that all voices within our patients' psyches are heard and that unfettered primitive superegos are captured or at least contained. Within our own psychoanalytic institutions, we can confront theoretical “isms” and promote good work group functions. We can also bring these egalitarian principles to the public by making our work more accessible and by supporting healthy sublimation of dangerous aggressions via the arts, media, sports etc.
We will never totally defeat the Death Drive but by accessing Eros these acts of love can alter its malignant valency. I do believe Dr. Freud and Ms. Klein would agree. What other alternative do we have?