death instinct

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death instinct

n. Psychiatry

A primitive impulse for destruction, decay, and death, postulated by Sigmund Freud as coexisting with and opposing the life instinct. Also called Thanatos.

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Noun

death instinct - (psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die

death wish, Thanatos

depth psychology, psychoanalysis, analysis - a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders; based on the theories of Sigmund Freud; "his physician recommended psychoanalysis"

impulse, urge - an instinctive motive; "profound religious impulses"

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analysis
death
death wish
depth psychology
impulse

postulate
psychoanalysis
Thanatos
urge

He walks the listener briskly through the life and evolving ideas of Freud, using, with definitions, the vocabulary that has insinuated itself into the popular lexicon: id, ego, and superego: narcissism, aggression, repression, paranoia, free association, transference and countertransference; unconscious and subconscious; sex, the death instinct, and dream interpretation.

Freud: A Very Short Introduction by Boardman, Edna / Kliatt

In a 1943 manuscript entitled "The Pattern of Organic Life in America," Smith noted: "All monumental architecture is an objectification of the death instinct.

Grave rave by Criqui, Jean-Pierre / Artforum International

This movie is about the death instinct manifesting itself in middle-aged criminals who have knocked themselves out, and the outlaws, of course, are neither imperialistic nor ideological.

The Wild Bunch by Alleva, Richard / Commonweal

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