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The term '[[libido]]', from the [[Latin]] word for 'desire' or 'lust', is used in [[psychoanalysis]] to describe the (psychic) mental energy generated by the stimulation of [[erogenous zones]] such as the [[mouth]], the [[breasts]], the [[anus]] or the [[genitals]].
[[Libido]] is a specifically sexual energy.
[[Freud]] posits a distinction between the sexual or libidinal [[drive]]s and the self-preservation or ego [[drive]]s.
One of the major disagreements between [[Freud]] and [[Jung]] is the latter's tendency to desexualize the concept of the [[libido]] and to dissolve it into a more general category of mental energy.
[[Freud]] often employs [[metaphor]]s from the [[science]] of hydraulics to describe [[libido]].
It is said to be quantifiable, plastic and adhesive, and can be attached to or withdrawn from [[object]]s thanks to the mechanism of [[cathexis]].
It can also be desexualized or used in [[sublimation]].
[[Libido]] is also described by [[Freud]] as being [[activity|active]] and [[masculinity|masculine]].
Although [[Freud]] refers to the [[libido]] throughout his work, he rarely defines the concept with any great precision.
The clearest discussions are to be found in his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, chapter 26 of the Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis and the second of the Two Encyclopedia Articles.
[[Lacan]] uses the term '[[libido]]' very sparingly, and tends to discuss [[sexuality]] in terms of [[desire]] and [[jouissance]].
The sexual drive. Freud believed that the sexual drive is as natural and insistent as hunger and that the libido manifests its influence as early as birth.
<references/>
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
