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Despite the great deal that has been written about masochism it remains one of the most complicated subjects in psychoanalytic theory and one of the most difficult problems in our therapeutic work. Freud in 1924 designated it as mysterious.
Freud's original concept of masochism was that of the turning of sadistic impulses against one's own ego. The object of sadistic tendencies is 'abandoned and replaced by the subject's self. Together with the turning round upon the self the change from an active to a passive aim in the instinct is brought about.' At this point 'another person is sought as object; this person, in consequence of the alteration which has taken place in the aim of the instinct, has to take over the original rôle of the subject.' 'Satisfaction follows in this case by way of the original sadism, the passive ego placing itself in fantasy back in its former situation, which, however, has now been given up to another subject outside the self. Whether there is, besides this, a more direct masochistic satisfaction is highly doubtful. A primary masochism not derived in the manner I have described from sadism, does not appear to be met with.'1
Later, with the introduction of the death instinct theory, Freud expressed the opposite view that masochism is identical with the death instinct and is a primary drive, a part of which, directed outwards toward objects as sadism, may be then reintrojected as secondary masochism supplementing the primary drive.2
The death instinct or primary masochism as conceived by Freud is an abstraction, not a clinical concept. In practical therapeutic work it has not proved to be helpful. Fenichel3