What does libido mean

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Nappi, R. Maintaining sexuality in menopause [Abstract]. Nimbim F. Male sexual desire: An overview of biological, psychological, sexual, relational, and cultural factors influencing desire. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. What causes a lowered libido? Can relationship issues affect libido? Can health issues affect libido?

How is lowered libido diagnosed? How is lowered libido treated? Where to get help. If you and your partner are not satisfied with your sex life, you can seek professional counselling to: learn communication skills to improve the overall quality of your relationship try to resolve underlying problems, such as tension learn how to increase intimacy and physical affection without having sex learn different sexual techniques talk about sexual desires and fantasies together learn strategies to boost sex drive, such as masturbating and fantasising.

If you have lost interest in sex for no apparent reason, a doctor can help find the cause by carrying out a range of tests, including: physical examination medical history blood tests. Treatment for a lessened sex drive depends on the cause, but can include: treatment for any underlying medical condition, such as depression although a side effect of some antidepressants is a lessened libido counselling stress management hormone therapy. Give feedback about this page. Was this page helpful?

The id, he suggested, was a reservoir of unconscious , primal energy. The id seeks pleasure and demands the immediate satisfaction of its desires. It is the id that serves as the source of our wants and impulses. How does the libido function in the id? The id is controlled by what Freud termed the pleasure principle.

Essentially, the id tries to direct all of the body's actions and processes to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible. The id demands immediate gratification of even our most basic urges. If the id had its way, you would take what you want, when you want, no matter the situation. Obviously, this would cause some serious problems.

Our wants and desires are not always appropriate, and acting on them could have serious repercussions. So, what stops people from simply acting upon their most basic instincts and desires?

The ego is the part of personality charged with harnessing the id's libidinal energy and making sure that these urges are expressed in acceptable ways. It's governed by the reality principle , which is focused on helping the person achieve their goals in ways that are realistic and acceptable. So, while the libidinal desires of the id might tell you to grab that donut off of the store shelf and start eating it immediately, the ego reigns in this impulse.

Instead, you take the socially acceptable actions of placing the donuts in your cart, paying for them at the register, and taking them home before you finally give in to your urge to eat the tasty treat. Adding a further complication to this process is the superego. The superego is the part of the personality that involves the ideals and morals internalized from parents, authority figures, and society. The way in which libido is expressed depends upon the stage of development a person is in.

According to Freud, children develop through a series of psychosexual stages. When handled successfully, the child moves to the next stage of development and eventually grows into a healthy, successful adult. In some cases, the focus on a person's libidinal energy may remain fixed at an earlier stage of development in what Freud referred to as fixation.

When this happens, the libido's energy may be too tied to this developmental stage and the person will remain "stuck" in this stage until the conflict is resolved. For example, the first stage of Freud's theory of psychosexual development is the oral stage. During this time, a child's libido is centered on the mouth, so activities such as eating, sucking, and drinking are important.

If an oral fixation occurs, an adult's libidinal energy will remain focused on this stage, which might result in problems such as nail-biting, drinking, smoking, and other habits. Freud also believed that each individual only had so much libido energy.

Because the amount of energy available is limited, he suggested that different mental processes compete for what is available. For example, Freud suggested that the act of repression, or keeping memories out of conscious awareness, requires a tremendous amount of psychic energy.

The tangled and messy science of medicating female sex drives Purbita Saha August 17, Popular-Science. Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology C. Word Origin for libido C20 in psychoanalysis : from Latin: desire. The psychic and emotional energy associated with instinctual biological drives. Sexual desire.