Abstract: The author aims to link the origin of war within the human psyche to Freud’s discovery in the context of the second theory of drives: it concerns the death drive. While conflict is a part of a peaceful psychic state – to the extent that peace presupposes the democratic coexistence of differentiated elements of the self and objects – war is underpinned by the omnipotence of a part of the psyche that seeks to impose its law on the entire psychic organization and, for this purpose, eradicates any claim to the existence of various other parts of the self, objects and the bonds that unite them. The death drive then attempts to impose its law on the life drive. The author found it appropriate to delve into the complexity of the après-coup mechanism to explore this subject and to provide clinical examples to support her hypotheses.
Rom J Psychoanal 2023, 16(2):15-27
DOI: 10.26336/rjp-2023-0012