Drive theory (psychoanalysis)

In Freudian psychoanalysis, drive theory (Triebtheorie, Trieblehre) refers to the theory of drives, motivations, or instincts, that have clear objects. In 1927 Freud said that a drive theory was what was lacking most in psychoanalysis. He was opposed to systematics in psychology, rejecting it as a form of paranoia, and instead classified drives with dichotomies like Eros/Thanatos drives, the drives toward Life and Death, respectively, and sexual/ego drives.

Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents was published in Germany in 1930 when the rise of fascism in that country was well under way, and the warnings of a second European war were leading to opposing calls for rearmament and pacifism. Against this background, Freud wrote "In face of the destructive forces unleashed, now it may be expected that the other of the two 'heavenly forces,' eternal Eros, will put forth his strength so as to maintain himself alongside of his equally immortal adversary.".

In 1947, Hungarian psychiatrist and psychologist Leopold Szondi, aimed instead to a systematic drive theory. Szondi Drive Diagram has been described as a revolutionary addition to psychology, and as paving the way for a theoretical psychiaty and a psychoanalytical anthropology.