title: The current status of the psychoanalytic theory of instinctual drives. II: The relation of the drive concept to structures, regulatory principles, and objects.
abstract: There has been and continues to be some degree of failure to recognize the effects of the introduction of the ego-id-superego model on the drive construct. In particular, some of the criticisms of drive theory fail to take cognizance of the structural position of drives. Drives, as an aspect of id, are more clearly separated from behavior conceptually than many discussions imply. Drive energy is a different concept from drive. Especially in the area of the governance of drives by the regulatory principles of mental functioning some improvement in clarity and utility seems possible through the use of different, more sophisticated models. Difficulties in the concept of objects appear to underlie considerable controversy in psychoanalysis today. I have here attempted to clarify the concept of drive objects, as a step in resolving the broader issues.
mesh_terms: D002409:Cathexis; D004328:Drive; D004532:Ego; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007060:Id; D007323:Instinct; D008418:Masturbation; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009769:Object Attachment; D010990:Pleasure-Pain Principle; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011606:Psychosexual Development; D013475:Superego; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology