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From a [[psychoanalytic ]] viewpoint, friendship is one of the bonds that arise from [[sexual ]] impulses when their attainment of a directly sexual [[goal ]] is inhibited. However, this is a [[process ]] of [[inhibition ]] rather than [[sublimation]]. This approach to a sexual [[satisfaction ]] that is never consummated forms the basis for especially strong and enduring ties between [[people]].Both in adolescence and in [[adulthood]], [[Freud ]] had some intense and deep friendships, but he did not write on this [[subject ]] at any great length. However, friendship, as he defined it, plays a key [[role ]] between individuals to the extent that it appears as a [[metaphor ]] for those relationships between two people that, unlike the [[state ]] of romantic [[love]], lead to a broader [[form ]] of [[unity]]. In this [[sense]], Freud connects it with these [[other ]] ties that are based on the aim-inhibited [[sexual impulses]]: the tender [[relationship ]] between parent and [[child]], and conjugal love in which the [[sexual relationship ]] has gradually fallen into second [[place]]. These two bonds form the basis for the broader unity that is constituted by the [[family]], just as friendship is the foundation for the creation of [[social ]] ties.However, these different kinds of bond should not be confused, because the [[homosexual ]] [[libido ]] can develop into friendship whereas the conjugal bond is in [[essence ]] heterosexual and the parent-child relationship involves an elaboration of the parent's [[narcissistic ]] libido. These ties can even [[conflict]]: "a pair of lovers are sufficient to themselves, and do not even [[need ]] the child they have in common to make [[them ]] happy" (1930a [1929], p. 108).At the [[theoretical ]] level, Freud refined the [[concept ]] of sublimation by distinguishing it from the inhibition of the aim of sexual satisfaction and, in this respect, friendship constitutes a [[good ]] example. Using the examples of [[Plato ]] and St. [[Paul ]] (1921c), Freud emphasized that the libido corresponds to love [[understood ]] in a wide sense, including, along with the state of romantic love, [[self]]-love, filial and parental love, friendship, and even the attachment to [[physical ]] [[objects ]] and abstract [[ideas]]. The sexual basis of these ties is attested to by the fact that they retain some of the primary sexual aims: "Even an affectionate devotee, even a friend or an admirer, desires the physical proximity and the [[sight ]] of the person who is now loved only in the '[[Pauline]]' sense" (pp. 138-139).However, these aim-inhibited [[drives ]] are not only capable of [[being ]] combined with non-inhibited drives but can also be transformed back in the opposite direction to revert to the directly sexual form from which they have originated. Friendship, admiration, and even the [[religious ]] bond therefore remain close to the sexual bond itself.There is a [[particular ]] kind of friendship that merits further consideration—the form that is shared by [[male ]] homosexuals and leads to the [[formation ]] of social ties. In relation to Daniel Paul [[Schreber]], Freud wrote that homosexual tendencies "[[help ]] to constitute the social [[instincts]], thus contributing an [[erotic ]] factor to friendship and comradeship, to <i>esprit de [[corps]]</i> and to the love of mankind in general. How large a contribution is in fact derived from erotic sources (with the [[sexual aim ]] inhibited) could scarcely be guessed from the normal social relations of mankind" (1911c [1910], p. 61). He bases this on the hypothesis that the shared homosexual impulse is generally aim-inhibited and constitutes a source of unused libido that is therefore available for these various ties. Moreover, the degree of homosexual [[drive ]] in an [[individual ]] determines their particular capacity for forming such ties, provided that they continue to inhibit it from direct satisfaction.This highly simplistic [[economic ]] perspective, which ignores the entire [[tradition ]] of homosexual friendship in antiquity and mentions only the form that is not aim-inhibited, is somewhat baffling. This is a long way removed from the depth of Freud's [[analysis ]] of the resexualization of sublimated homosexual ties that leads via [[narcissism ]] to [[paranoia ]] (1911c [1910]). However, Freud continues to subscribe to this specific affinity between the homosexual bond and the [[constitution ]] of the group through friendship and <i>esprit de corps</i>: "It seems certain that homosexual love is far more compatible with group ties, even when it takes the shape of uninhibited sexual tendencies" (1921c, p. 141).While the "social sense," a "sublimated" (or, rather, inhibited) form of the male homosexual libido, may take the form of love of humanity, it can also be extended to a relatively large group. [[Solidarity ]] is therefore the form of expression given to the [[recognition ]] of what is identical to the self.

# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1911c [1910]). [[Psycho]]-[[analytic ]] [[notes ]] on an autobiographical account of a [[case ]] of paranoia ([[dementia ]] paranoides). SE, 12: 1-82.# ——. (1921c). Group [[psychology ]] and the analysis of the ego. SE, 18: 65-143.