Freud’s libido theory absorbs even organic brain damage into sexual etiology

Evidence

Accordingly, in cases of war neuroses no less than in cases of traumatic neuroses, the “libido theory” retains its etiological primacy either by deriv­ ing neurosis from a conflict of the ego with itself or by concluding that the concentration of the libido upon the wound conjures the threat of neurosis. The auto-eroticized wound fends off the return of an ego-conflict. Sexuality thus intervenes itself in every case in order to activate or to efface the psy­ chic effects of organic damage, especially brain damage. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2446

Categorization

• XREF: Core of Malabou’s critique of psychoanalysis the reader is tracking — the refusal to grant brain damage its own traumatic logic. — connects to: Destruction provides the only proof that cerebral auto-affection exists — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1070; Organic pain redirects libidinal interest away from loved objects — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 2314; Freud’s evolutions all subordinate the aleatory event to the causal principle of sexuality — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1762 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Freud’s model renders brain-lesion disaffection a self-destruction, not a neural cause #expands (0.95) — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2461
• Freud held psychic life autonomous from cerebral causes #corroborates (0.90) — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2055
• Freud asked whether brain damage retains any narrativity once dissociated from fantasy. #expands (0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2102