Libidinal Development

A major contribution of psychoanalysis to human understanding is its explanation of neurotic mental disorders in terms of fixation or regression of the libido. Libido, a Latin term meaning desire, want, amorous desire, is defined as the instinctual sexual energy underlying all mental activity. Psychoanalysis saw libidinal development as spanning the whole psychosexual evolution of the individual from birth to adulthood, as reconstructed in psychoanalytic treatment. Such treatment takes into account the early phases in the organization...