Destrudo

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Destrudo, or Destrado, is the energy of the destructive impulse. It is the opposite of libido. While libido is the urge to create, an energy that arises from the Eros (or "life") drive, destrudo is the urge to destroy both oneself and everything else. Destrudo arises from the Thanatos drive, which also is the source of aggression, and death (in Greek mythology, Thanatos is the god of death).

Destrudo is a lesser-known life force, and is usually ignored in place of more well-known and well-defined theories of human emotion. Destrudo can be traced to Sigmund Freud's attempt to explain the actions of soldiers in World War I.

[edit] See also

• Mortido
• Thanatos
• Death instinct