Psychoanalysis and Violence*

Violence is as old as humankind. Freud late in his life postulated the presence of an innate aggressive drive. Violence is not just learned. It is innate and seeks discharge. History shows how each of us uses relations with family, friends and educators to learn the ways provided by our society and culture for the expression of destructive urges. Freud's drive theory gave us a way to view the consequences when aggression is impeded from discharge. Freud (1933) wrote, “It really seems necessary for us to destroy some other thing or person in order not to destroy ourselves, in order to guard against the impulsion to self-destruct” (p. 105). The question is how the aggressive drive is channeled. For psychoanalysis, the question is pertinent. “Can it affect the problems created when men turn their innate aggression into actions directed against each other?” Modern psychoanalysis has developed techniques and a theory for working with destructive impulsivity.