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Int. J. Psycho-Anal. (1971) 52, 145

WITHIN THE REALM OF THE DEATH INSTINCT

ANGEL GARMA, BUENOS AIRES

This paper is intended as a basis for discussion the archaic heritage of human beings comprises not of the subject of aggression and will deal with only dispositions but also subject-matter-memory various aspects of the death instinct theory. My traces of the experience of earliergenerations(Freud, choice of this theory for discussion was influ- 1939, p. 99). enced by the existence in our modern civilization The above quotations show how for Freud, of profound discontents, in spite of immense the characteristics of both the primary instincts possibilities for happiness. and other human reactions are dependent on After a review ofthe theory I attempt to show the individual's ancestral and personal circum- that masochistic reactions are incompatible with stances. For instance, Freud, in his study on the pleasure principle. Afterwards I defend the the genesis of the superego, emphasizes the thesis that everybody loves or is aggressive importance of the influence of ancestral totemic against his neighbour as he loves or is aggressive society, and of the defusion of life and death against himself. I then investigate manifesta- instincts which comes from identification, de- tions of the death instinct unrelated to guilt sexualization and sublimation of the individual's feelings and discuss psychoanalytic interpre- relationship with his parents. The defusion tations of sadism turned against the self. In increases the manifestations of the self-destruc- conclusion I maintain that the theory of the tive instinct, because the ego struggles against death instinct, which answers to reality, is both the erotic instinct. sinister and optimistic. But since the ego's work of sublimation results in a defusion of the instincts and a liberation of the LIFE AND DEATH INSTINCTS aggressive instincts in the superego, its struggle Freud reformulated the instincts into two against the exposes it to the danger of mal- main groups: those of life and those of death. treatment and death (1923, p. 56). He postulated the death instinct on the basis of his speculations on the repetition compulsion The theory of life and death instincts can also and the tendency of the instincts to re-establish be applied on a national scale following the earlier situations, and also on the basis of clinical ideas put forward by Freud (1923, p. 38), and facts allegedly contrary to the pleasure principle, sometimes considered Lamarckian, that one as for example: traumatic neuroses, fate neu- individual may be regarded as composed of roses, masochism, unconscious guilt feelings, , harboured residues of the existence of countless the transferential repetition of painful infantile egos " with different ancestral experiences. experiences and negative therapeutic reactions. If we assume the survival of these memory-traces of Freud (1920, p. 38) thought that the instincts the experience of our ancestorsin the archaicheritage were the result of interaction between organic we have bridged the gulf between individual and matter and environmental circumstances: group psychology: we can deal with peoples as we do with an individual neurotic (Freud, 1939, p. 100). the phenomena of organic development must be attributed to external disturbing and diverting in- A nation, like an individual, has a beginning fluences.... In the last resort, what has left its mark and an evolution. Present national charac- on the development of organisms must be the history teristics are determined by past circumstances of the earth we live in and of its relation to the sun. that continue to hold sway over the present Thus, for example, the latency period of through a kind of compulsion to repeat. Accor- human sexuality is attributed by Freud to the ding to Freud, for instance, present-day Judaeo- destructive influence of the Ice Ages: Christian ideology and rituals, such as belief in

Invited contribution to the 27th International Psycho-Analytical Congress, Vienna, 1971. Copyrighted Material. For use only by UPENN. Reproduction prohibited. Usage subject to PEP terms & conditions (see terms.pep-web. org).

146 ANGEL GARMA

immortality, communion and circumcision, One's own death can only be represented by repeat behaviour patterns originated in the social a total lack of mental representations. But any- conditions of primitive totemic society and of one trying to visualize this absence of represen- the Egyptian empire. tations must necessarily create a mental repre- Some of the reactions to ancient experiences sentation of the lack of them, which, of course, which persist in the present compel a nation to is not a state of total lack of mental represen- seek progress and well-being; others are more tations. destructive and cause suffering. This can be If this is the case, then, when the individual is simplified by saying that in a nation we find representing this lack of representations to him- progressive life tendencies together with other self he is representing himself as alive and not regressive, self-destructive death tendencies. dead. Hence the possibility of imagining some- These two opposed tendencies are present in one else's death but not one's own. every national activity. Their relative intensity The mental representation of one's own death is also determined by the strength of the influ- would be ' loss of consciousness',which implies an ence that the pleasant or unpleasant, constructive absence of mental representation. In Spanish and or destructive characteristics of present environ- French this is literally described by' loss ofknow- mental circumstances exercises upon them at any ledge '. It is also significant that' a dead faint' one moment. is a synonym for loss of consciousness. Perhaps When we know that a nation, because of its Freud's exclamation, ' How sweet it must be to experience in the past, carries a heavy burden die' (Jones, 1953, p. 317), when he recovered of inherited regressive, self-destructive death from a dead faint in 1912, might be considered tendencies, we can better understand why such as lending support to this supposition. a nation tends to suffer more intensely than its present circumstances would seem to warrant. DEATH INSTINCT OR INSTINCTUAL AGGRESSIVE It also enables us to understand why, just as in DRIVE the treatment of individual neuroses, attempts Some analysts do not admit to the existence to relieve the suffering and destructive behaviour of destructive tendencies which are not brought of a nation either fail or only partly succeed. about by frustration. Others accept that destruc- Persistence of excessive suffering cannot be tive instincts can exist independently, but have explained as incidental in a nation's search for doubts regarding the death instinct. Thus, happiness. It is significant, too, that empires according to Loewenstein (1940, p. 388): have usually perished because of internal prob- we must range ourselves with those [Fenichel, lems. Hartmann] who prefer the older theory, though that The concept of death instincts (always bearing theory will ... have to undergo terminological in mind that its genesis, evolution and present modifications and, above all, completion. features must be considered in relation to past and present circumstances) furnishes us with a Nevertheless in certain details in their wri- tentative understanding of how a nation or an tings, Hartmann et al. (1949) (who prefer to individual suffers and destroys itself. I find that speak of' instinctual drive' rather than instinct) Freud's theory of the death instinct validates would appear to admit to the existence of an some of the earlier psychoanalytic explanations, instinct of self-destruction or death. This seems maintains others unchanged, and re-examines clear from the following quotations: yet others from a new viewpoint without dis- ... the existence of a primary drive toward aggres- carding them. As Freud (1930, p. 119) wrote: sion or destruction. We... considerthis assumption to be of immediate relevance in the formulation of The assumption of the existence of an instinct of psychoanalytic propositions [po 11]. The vicissitudes death or destruction ... provides that simplification of aggression resemble those of sexuality to such a without either ignoring or doing violence to the degree that the assumption of a constant driving facts for which we strive in scientific work. power comparable to that of libido seems approp- riate [po 28]. The unmodified aggressive impulse The fact that there is no unconscious repre- threatens the existence of the object ... [p. 19]. sentation of one's own death does not imply ... since the ' full' discharge of aggressive energy that the death instinct does not exist. This can would endanger the objects, whereas the full dis- be understood if we consider that the very act charge of libido ... does not threaten the existence of creating a mental representation implies the of the object itself [po 20].... We start from the presence of life, which precludes one's owndeath. assumption of an undifferentiated phase of psychic Copyrighted Material. For use only by UPENN. Reproduction prohibited. Usage subject to PEP terms & conditions (see terms.pep-web. org).

WITHIN THE REALM OF THE DEATH INSTINCT 147 structure. ... During the undifferentiated phase who would have made her suffer far more. In one might assume aggression ... to be centred in this way her superego deceived her (Garma, the self [po 25]. 1968) into submitting to totally unnecessary To draw a conclusion from these quotations: pain, the degree of which she controlled. Had if there is a primary aggressive drive, which she not been a masochist, she would not have , threatens the existence of the object itself' and fantasied with cruel imaginary persecutors which if in the beginning the object of the aggressive forced her towards painful, although controlled drive is the self, then it must be assumed that destructive forms of behaviour. at least in the beginning the aggressive drive Symons (1927) divides masochistic behaviour threatens the existence of the self. Which means into two types according to whether it is moti- that this primary drive attempts first of all to vated by oedipal guilt feelings or not. He destroy the self, i.e. it amounts to a death maintains that in the former case the behaviour instinct. is compatible with the pleasure principle because (1949, pp. 39-40) similarly admits the subject rids himself of his guilt feelings by to the existence of independent aggressive urges, means of his masochistic suffering and can thus which in the beginning are directed against the afterwards enjoy sexual pleasure. body, i.e. against the self. This would appear to To consider this type of masochistic behaviour be an admission of the existence of a primary compatible with the pleasure principle is to make self-destructive instinct. the mistake of ignoring the clearly masochistic fact that oedipal guilt persists. Masochism moti- The aggressive character of the infantile sex urges vated by guilt feelings consists of two stages: . .. later on recognized as the expression of the (1) the maintenance of an illogical and anachro- second group of instincts-the destructive urges. nistic state of guilt which already implies a ... In veryearly phasesaggressive energy may find outlets on the child's own body, just as sexual desire for suffering, i.e. masochism, and (2) energy (libido) may find outlets in auto-erotic a further search for suffering under the pretence activities. . .. From this stage of development on- that this will provide liberation from guilt ward it is essential for the child's normality that the feelings. Since the maintenance of the guilt aggressive urges should be directed away from the feelings is in itself contrary to the- pleasure child'sownbodyto the animateor inanimateobjects principle, then the same must apply to the pain in the enviroment. provided by perverse practices, even though the apparent aim of these is the pleasurable one of MASOCHISM AND THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE getting rid of guilt feelings. With his theory of the death instinct, Freud According to Symons, Freud's first theory of tried to explain human reactions which are sadism turned against the self provides a better opposed to the pleasure principle, such as maso- explanation of masochistic behaviour based on chistic perversion and moral masochism. The guilt feelings. latter includes every form of behaviour which It is important to bear in mind that according causes unnecessary conscious or unconscious to this first theory the search for pain took a suffering,such as neurotic, psychotic and organic masochistic form before it became sadistic. illness. Freud (1905, pp. 128-9) is very clear about this. The life instincts of both the perverse maso- He also points out that enjoyment of sadism chist and the moral masochist mitigate and requires that the sadist identify himself with the restrict their search for pain. This might funda- sufferer, in other words that he adopt a maso- mentally lead to the conclusion that the maso- chistic position. chist seeks pleasure. But even if we agree that the sadistic indi- In her analysis one of my patients became vidual originally tried to inflict pain on his aware of the fact that, although her perverse object, we are still unable to explain masochism masochistic behaviour caused her to seek pain as sadism turned against the self. For it to and punishment, she accepted them because occur there must be 'something' in the indi- they attenuated other forms of behaviour un- vidual which directs this turn against the self consciously created by her imagination which which forces towards it. If this 'something' were much worse, such as dying of hunger or is investigated we find that it was of a maso- being torn to pieces. Beingwhipped by her lover chistic nature even before sadism became turned to the point of bleeding thus caused her to feel against the individual. This is the case, for a manic triumph over her imaginary persecutors, instance, when sadism turned against the self Copyrighted Material. 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148 ANGEL GARMA comes from submission to the superego, i.e. from Freud (1917, p. 252) wrote before stating his guilt feelings and the need for punishment. theory of the death instinct: From the very beginning this individual was far no neurotic harbours thoughts of suicide which he more masochistic than sadistic; had it been has not turned back on himself from murderous otherwise his sadism would have remained domi- impulses against others ... nant and not been turned against the self. Masochism is often illustrated by cases such I would instead place prime importance on as that of the angry child, full of sadistic feelings something which I did not mention explicitly at towards his mother who has given him an enema; the time, although I referred to it quite clearly since the mother forces him to repress these in my description of the suicide's masochistic feelings, they are turned inward upon himself. personality deformation: the internalization of In this type of case also, the child is subjected external aggressions, which become highly in- from the very beginning to a painful external tensified following infantile submissions to real aggression, far stronger than its own sadistic and fantasied objects and as a consequence of feelings. Subjection becomes permanent when the sadistic behaviour of the superego, which the child internalizes maternal aggression into thus reinforces the masochism of the ego. its superego and becomes definitely masochistic. In short, this brief study of some aspects of When this happens, masochism is intensified by masochistic behaviours would seem to indicate the child's sadism which has been turned against that there is ' something' in the individual which himself. But, when considering this process, is not derived from the erotic or life instinct and we must keep in mind that the very sadism which is therefore contrary to the pleasure prin- which is turned against the self is usually a ciple. This' something' would appear to come consequence of the child's guilt feelings and from tendencies which seek out pain and self need for punishment and that the purpose of its destruction from the very beginning, and which sadistic behaviour is to feel remorse and pain. according to Freud come from an instinct of Thus the objective of the child's sadism was death. masochistic from the beginning. According to Symons, masochistic forms of INWARD- AND OUTWARD-DIRECTED behaviour unconnected with guilt feelings are DESTRUCTIVENESS pleasant rather than painful. This in itself does According to Freud, the self-destructive acti- not deny the search for pain, which is contrary vity of the death instinct is kept under control to the pleasure principle, and therefore Symons by its fusion with the life instinct and by its adds that the cause of this type of behaviour may being directed against external objects. The more be that the masochist has an exaggerated capa- an individual controls his aggressiveness towards city for deriving pleasure from painful feelings. objects the more aggressive he becomes towards This is not a valid explanation because, as Freud himself (Freud, 1923, p. 54; 1924b; p. 170). In (1905, p. 159) pointed out, support of this idea Freud (1933, p. 105) went so far as to say that It has also been maintainedthat every pain contains in itself the possibility of a feeling of pleasure. All Impeded aggressiveness seems to involve a grave that need be said is that no satisfactory expla- injury. It really seems as though it is necessary for nation of this perversion has been put forward... us to destroy some other thing or person in order not to destroy ourselves, in order to guard against Suicide can also be considered a masochistic the impulsion to self-destruction. form of behaviour. For reasons of space, I am obliged merely to refer to my paper published This theory has not found acceptance. Hart- in 1937, in which I describe four main moti- mann et al. (1949, p. 22) are not' satisfied with vations for suicide: identification of the suicide the dichotomy of self-destructive and externa- with a lost libidinous object; the attempt to lized aggression '. Nor is this confirmed by the recover that lost object through death; aggres- results of analytic treatment, in which both sion against certain objects by means of suicide, kinds of destructiveness diminish. and the turning of aggressive wishes against the Freud often counterbalances an individual's self. behaviour towards others with his behaviour Today, 35 years later, I would say that towards himself. For example, he says that aggressive wishes turned against the self are of increased object libido brings about a decrease only secondary importance in spite of what in ego libido. He compares this oscillation to Copyrighted Material. For use only by UPENN. Reproduction prohibited. Usage subject to PEP terms & conditions (see terms.pep-web. org).

WITHIN THE REALM OF THE DEATH INSTINCT 149

the quantities of protoplasm in the pseudopodia consciousness of deserving this love is felt by it as and body of the amoeba (Freud, 1914, p. 75). pride. He also weighs outward-directed destructive This' pride', which may be thought of as behaviour against inward-directed destructive- the beginning of megalomania, is therefore the ness in his description of the differences between result of submission to an anti-erotic object. neurotic and psychotic behaviour. According Federn (1956, p. 266), while following Freud to Freud (1924a, 1924c), in neurosis the indi- in balancing inward- and outward-directed vidual submits to the aggression of external destructiveness against each other, makes a reality and in doing so attacks himself by rejec- distinction between melancholic and manic ting an aspect of his id, while in psychosis he forms of behaviour. He maintains that in the attacks an aspect of external reality, thus manic phase the destructive instinct is outwardly defending his id. directed and in the melancholic phase it is in- It seems improbable that the psychotic should wardly directed. The self-destructive behaviour sever his ties with external reality in this way of many manic people, such as gamblers, does (Garma, 1932). It seems more probable that not bear this out. Nor does analysis of the the break with reality is caused by the fact that manic phases of patients suffering from melan- the psychotic rejects vital instinctual aspects of cholia confirm Freud's thesis (1921, p. 132) his id to a greater extent than the neurotic. With that this comes an increased rejection of pleasant external objects which extends itself to many their ego ideal might be temporarily resolved into other aspects of external reality. The psychotic's their ego after having previously ruled it with special inward-directed destructive behaviour cannot strictness. therefore be weighed against his outward- The manic's superego is at least as self- directed destructiveness. destructive as that of the melancholic. However, It follows that psychotic and neurotic forms it is a deceptive superego which, while appearing of behaviour are not really opposites, as Freud to supply erotic or outward-destructive satis- has maintained. The psychotic superego is more factions, causes the submitted masochistic ego persecutory than the neurotic, and by submit- of the manic to behave in a fundamentally self- ting to it masochistically the psychotic destroys destructive way. The paradox is that the manic's his links with pleasant reality and accepts un- increased self-esteem is in great part caused by pleasant reality; he destroys his vital instincts his allowing himself to be deceived in a painful and cultivates his self-destructive ones to a far way. greater extent than the neurotic. It is true that the psychotic sometimes creates for himself a In manic reactions there is a denigrating triumph fantasied reality which is pleasant, but this over objects and a of reality, both external is a secondary development with implications and psychic. Contrary to some affirmations of psy- of an attempted recovery. choanalytic literature, it is the libidinal objects and instincts that are denied or triumphed over by the Nor does Freud's (1914, p. 74-5) counter- ego in obedience to the orders of its superego, and balance of object libido and ego libido explain in submission to the death instinct (Garma, 1968, the psychotic's megalomania. According to p.78). Freud, the psychotic has disconnected himself from his external objects, and some of his object Collective behaviour patterns also fail to libido has become ego libido. The ego feels confirm that outward-directed destructiveness is grandiose as it fills up with libido. But a more in opposition to inward-directed destructive- probable explanation of the psychotic's mega- ness. We tend to find that they often go hand lomania seems to be that he is self-destructively in hand. submitted to a persecutory object, like Schreber According to Freud (1930, p. 143): and his castratory god (Garma, 1932, p. 194). The commandment' Lovethy neighbouras thyself', It is this mechanism and not displacement of is the strongest defence against human aggressive- object libido to the ego that Freud describes in ness...The commandmentisimpossible to fulfil.... 'Moses and Monotheism' (1939, p. 117): Is this really true? Only if we presume that When the ego has brought the superego the sacrifice self-love is not ambivalent. In a study of that of an instinctual renunciation, it expects to be very destructive form of behaviour, anti-judaism rewarded by receiving more love from it. The (anti-semitism) (Garma, 1963), one of the points Copyrighted Material. For use only by UPENN. Reproduction prohibited. Usage subject to PEP terms & conditions (see terms.pep-web. org).

150 ANGEL GARMA

I made was that the self-love of anti-Jewish manifest, which, however, does not contain religious people was negative and therefore guilt feelings or a wish for punishment. caused them to seek suffering, motivated by Towards the end of these analyses we often such beliefs as that they were bad and were find phobic attitudes to the idea of new progress born in mortal sin. They must make intense which would signify vital achievement. These libidinous renunciations while living in this phobic attitudes are sometimes disguised as , valley of tears' and willonly find true happiness achievements and sometimes as apparent mour- after death. By making the Jews suffer they are ning at the fantasied separation from the ana- strictly obeying the commandment to ' love thy lyst (Garma, 1967). In psychoanalytic descrip- neighbour as thy self'. Their negative love, i.e. tions of mourning for the termination of hatred for themselves, causes them to believe analysis much greater emphasis has been placed that they are fundamentally bad and can only on the difficulty of separating from the analyst find redemption after death if they suffer and than on the trainee's phobic attitudes against deprive themselves of libidinous objects during the possibility of attaining greater vital achieve- life; they therefore ill-treat and persecute them- ments through his treatment. I feel the phobic selves and also other people who represent attitude is most important. themselves or parts of themselves, i.e. sent to Towards the end of training analysis, when another world where they will find' happiness '. the trainee has worked through his idealization Other types of genocide can be understood in of the analyst, the resistance to further improve- the same way, i.e. by understanding that the ment manifests itself during sessions in a individual loves or attacks his neighbour as renewed attempt to reduce his own analyst's himself. rank: This frequently appears in the trainee's fantasies in the form of a comparison of his THE DEATH INSTINCT IN THE FINAL STAGES OF own analyst with other analysts or with other PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT professionals who, as can be discovered in the same or other sessions, are also devalued. During analysis the death instinct manifests It is as though something within the trainee itself as an obstacle in the path of a cure: prevented him from forming a positive psychic during the work of analysis ... a force which is ... image of his own analyst, other analysts and absolutelyresolved to hold on to illness and suffering. other professionals. The trainee's guilt feelings One portion of this force has been recognized ... as are not the predominating factors in this type a sense of guilt and need for punishment and has of psychological reaction, which increases as the been localized ... in the ego's relation to the super- end of treatment approaches, nor is the analyst ego ... other quotas of the same force ... may be imbued with the significance of a superego. at work in other, unspecified places (Freud. 1937, p.242-3). Rather he is the trainee's double. The deni- gration of the training analyst in these fantasies In the final stages of analysis we come across in the final stages shows the way the trainee one of those 'unspecified places' where the unconsciously harms himself and how he will death instinct acts independently of guilt feel- go on harming himself after his analysis is com- ings, which have become greatly reduced by pleted, and with himself others. analysis. It does not appear as though it would be This situation shows up more clearly in the difficult to modify these reactions which seek to termination of a training analysis when this is ex- degrade both the analyst and the trainee, and tended beyond the basic time stipulated by the yet the final stages of treatment prove the con- psychoanalytic institute. This type of analysis trary. It is as though this were the inevitable tends to be both long and successful because result of a merger of two opposing forces, life of the trainee's high psychological ability. and death, with a not altogether satisfactory Towards the end of training analysis, trainees, result. Perhaps this is why, as Freud wrote who by now have several years of experience (1937, pp. 228, 247): as analysts themselves, attain a satisfactory high level of well-being and ability. One frequently the difference between a person who has not been feels in identification with the patient's uncon- analysed and the behaviour of a person after he scious material that appears in the sessions has been analysed is not so thoroughgoing as we that it would not be difficult for them to reach aim at making it; ... analysts, in their own personal- a higher level, but a resistance to this becomes ities, have not invariably come up to the standard Copyrighted Material. For use only by UPENN. Reproduction prohibited. Usage subject to PEP terms & conditions (see terms.pep-web. org).

WITHIN THE REALM OF THE DEATH INSTINCT 151 of psychical normalityto which they wish to educate that masochism is older than sadism and that their patients. sadism is the destructive instinct directedoutwards, thus acquiringthe characteristic of aggressiveness. This is manifest in several aspects of the rivalries between analysts (Garma, 1970). If this is so, then the patients' masochistic Freud, (1937, p. 252) said, with reference to self-destructive behaviour in connection with the difficulties of terminating analysis: their real or fantasied objects, both actual in- it is not important in what form resistance appears, fantile and hereditary, must be interpreted whether as a or not. The decisive analytically (in the transferential situation) as thingremains that the resistance prevents any change being fundamental to the genesis of their neu- from taking place-that everything stays as it was. rosis. Their sadistic forms of behaviour are We often have the impression that ... we have secondary to the masochistic ones because, as penetrated through all the psychological strata and have reached bedrock, and that thus our activities I have already shown, everyone treats his objects are at an end. This is probably true, since, for the in the same way as he treats himself or has psychical field, the biological field does in fact play himself been treated. Also, the patient's sadistic the part of the underlying bedrock. behaviour towards his objects has a masochistic aim, since his sadism destroys his own erotic Freud connects this' bedrock', this' biologi- possiblities with them. To this must be added cal field " with woman's desire for a penis and the fact that, as a consequence of guilt feelings with man's masculine protest. To differ slightly, and the need for punishment, both of which while still following Freud's line of reasoning, are masochistic, sadism derived from masochism might it not be possible to suppose that this also turns from the object to the subject and 'biological field' derives from archaic events thus strengthens the original masochism. Freud which were detrimental to human development (1916, p. 332) follows this type of interpretation and the consequences of which are too deeply im- in his study of' Criminals from a Sense of Guilt'. printed biologically on the human psychosomatic All neurotics are aggressive, i.e. criminal, up to unit for the self-destructive or death urge to be a point, in their relations with others and above modified by beyond a certain all towards themselves, on account of their limit? I refer, for instance, to the archaic guilt feelings; in other words, on account of the events which gave rise to the latency period of masochism of their ego before a sadistic super- sexuality, and to the genitally destructive aspects ego. The presence of this sadistic superego of the superego. shows the masochistic behaviour of the neurotic. Even though training analysis does not cure Interpretations in analytic sessions should tend him completely, the young analyst, by dis- to express the urgent unconscious transferential covering the way in which his death instinct fantasy. I have frequently observed during works (both when guilt feelings and the need supervisions that trainees tend to emphasize the for punishment are involved and when they are sadistic aspects of their patients' material while not), is also enabled to understand. much ignoring the underlying masochistic aspects. clearly the self-destructive behaviour of his This is also to be seen occasionally in psycho- patients. In view of this, I pointed out in 196.2 analytic clinical histories. that among the curative factors of analysis In the case of Oedipus (Rascovsky & Ras- there is covsky, 1968) Freud emphasizes the incestual (0) a decrease of the submission to the superego; parricidal tendencies but neglects the influence consequently (b) a better acceptance of the [vital] on Oedipus of his parents' cruelty in piercing instincts, (c) the acceptance [awareness] of the death his feet and exposing him to die when he was instinct, and (d) a diminution of the cleavage or three days old. splitting between mind and body brought about by In my opinion, the Oedipus story seems to be the ego's defence mechanisms (1962, p. 224). a sort of 'family romance'. The piercing of Oedipus' feet may be an equivalent of circum- THEORY OF THE DEATH INSTINCT AND cision, and being exposed and left to die soon INTERPRETATIVE TECHNIQUE after birth could symbolize being taken away The psychoanalytic considerations which led from his mother and being cared for by others, to the formulation of the concept of the death as happens in modern times when the newborn instinct appear to show, as Freud (1933, p. 105) is left in the nursery and is no longer suckled by said synthetically, its mother, whose flow of milk is suppressed by 11 Copyrighted Material. For use only by UPENN. Reproduction prohibited. Usage subject to PEP terms & conditions (see terms.pep-web. org).

152 ANGEL GARMA medication. Reasoning thus, and drawing on It is of interest that the authors included a our observations of neurotic patients, one could diagram in their description of this case in which interpret that the acts which Oedipus thought no mention was made of the patient's hostility, of as parricide and incest were in reality but only of her guilt feelings, which seems a much more innocent. They seemed terrible to better interpretation. Similarly, another analyst him because he was still subjugated to his cruel reported a case in which she attributed the superego, not having worked through his trau- patient's headaches to repressed hostility turned matic infantile experiences. Audiences are against herself. But after discussing the case deeply moved by Oedipus' tragedy because of with her colleagues she modified her opinion, their deep guilt feelings rather than because of and affirmed that there were fewer paranoid the intensity of their parricidal or incestuous reactions of rage and hate (i.e. hostility) in this tendencies. There is an analogy here with case than there were of the terror and panic the individuals who believe they were 'born in patient had felt as a child when her mother died. mortal sin', in whom masochistic guilt con- In 1954 I tried to show that repressed hostile nected with genitality predominates over parri- urges turned against the self are of much less cidal tendencies. importance in the genesis of headaches and some It is detrimental to analytic progress to place of their special symptoms, such as scotoma emphasis, in interpreting their Oedipus complex (Garma, 1959) than the patient's moral maso- to neurotic patients, on their sadism towards chism before his actual and infantile real and both parents and the corresponding fantasied fantasied objects and particularly his superego. images, without showing that these sadistic Other Argentinian analysts, F. Cesio, H. Garcia reactions are to a large extent caused by maso- Vega, J. L. Gonzalez, L. Grinberg, A. and M. chistic submission to them and other fantasied Rascovsky and J. Weil, express a similar opinion images. The interpretations of sadism-which in their writings (Garma, 1958). Monsour (1957) Fenichel (1941, pp. 38, 57) also criticized- also places more emphasis on masochism than lead to conclusions of a religious type (as in on hostility in migraine; Sperling (1969) related the religious concept of original mortal sin, migraine headache directly to the death instinct. which according to Freud signifies parricide); I find that analytic trainees insist particularly they imply that neurosis, i.e. people's internal on technically erroneous interpretations of sufferings, depend on their aggressive drives repressed hostility turned against the subject, in against parents or parental substitutes, i.e. their analysis of headaches, both their patients' against other men or God. and their own. In severalanalytic studies of headaches, I have My trainees in analysis interpret their own found a tendency towards a technicallyerroneous headaches as coming from repressed hostility unilateral type of interpretation of sadism. turned against the self, when they are in situ- Until 15 years ago it was customary to interpret ations of submission to me or to someone else headaches as being caused by hostile, i.e. sadistic, in authority whom they believemight have called urges against other people, in particular against a given masochistic form of behaviour sadistic. their heads. When these urges were repressed Because of their submission, these trainees they were turned against the self. This patho- repress more correct interpretations of maso- genic concept of headaches was first formulated chistic reactions to real and fantasied persecutory by Graven in 1924, but is usually attributed to objects and substitute for them another type of Fromm-Reichmann (1937). interpretation in which they identify themselves These interpretations have been made so with a sadist, a malevolent aggressor, so as to feel frequently that an analyst once said that the guilty. sadistic genesis of headaches is so obvious that In my opinion the theory of the death instinct it seems a platitude to mention it. These inter- helps the formulation of technically correct pretations have even been applied to such cases therapeutic interpretations which uncover the as that of a woman who used to have headaches masochistic reactions underlying manifest or after beating her daughter so violently that she latent sadism or hostility. This is not to deny stunned and bruised her. One is tempted to the importance of sadistic reactions, but rather wonder what would have happened to the girl to avoid the confusion that arises when the if, in accordance with the above concept of the situation is attributed mainly to the sadistic com- genesis of headaches, the mother had given free ponents rather than to the underlying masochism rein to her hostility and thus avoided a headache. which they mask. This theory makes it easier to Copyrighted Material. For use only by UPENN. Reproduction prohibited. Usage subject to PEP terms & conditions (see terms.pep-web. org).

WITHIN THE REALM OF THE DEATH INSTINCT 153

understand how present circumstances which are to the pleasure principle? Can we really believe harmful to the individual reactivate the memories that people become neurotic because they look of detrimental infantile submissions to real and for pleasure or that it is people's efforts to obtain fantasied objects, and how both increase happiness which make it so difficult to effect a destructive behaviour, caused by masochistic psychoanalytic cure? submission to the superego or other types, of The theory of the death instinct tries to explain neurotic individuals. (Collective forms of be- unnecessary self-caused suffering. It describes haviour may be regarded in a similar light.) and studies the genesis of some of the ways in which people actively try not to be happy, taking Is THE THEORY OF THE DEATH INSTINCT into account the evolutionary progress of man PESSIMISTIC? and his ancestral and personal experiences. It Some analysts feel that the theory of the death also in no way denies that it is possible to modify instinct is pessimistic because, according to it, them favourably, since it shows that the death if the psychic conflicts are not caused by experi- instinct arose from and evolved with humanity's ences then they must be congenital, which means past experiences and that the destructive con- irreversible and therefore not capable of being flicts which it causes, increase or diminish modified by analysis. according to the nature of each person's experi- This argument can readily be dismissed by ence. If this is the case, if the theory of the death comparing the death instinct to the sexual instinct can perceive the human personality with- instinct. This is also congenital and contains out self-deception and can indicate the source of intense congenital conflicts such as immaturity trouble and what possibilities there are of during the first years of life, the period of latency attaining happiness, then although it is a sinister and slowness of genital development in puberty. theory it can be considered optimistic. On the None of this implies that an individual's sexual contrary, if primary auto-destructive tendencies manifestations do not also depend on his indi- exist, a theory which denies them-and this is vidual experiences and cannot be modified by implicit in the denial of the death instinct- them. would be pessimistic. Such a denial would be The self-destructive tendencies have been tantamount to maintaining an illusion and called an instinct because they seem to be as passively accepting auto-destructive elements deeply ingrained in the individual as the instinc- under a pleasant disguise. tual behaviour patterns which look for pleasure. Is the main reason for rejecting the theory of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT the death instinct the distaste for admitting This paper was translated by Mrs Shulamith de something in one's behaviour which is opposed Calles.

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