Organic pain redirects libidinal interest away from loved objects

Evidence

It is universally known, and we take it as a matter of course, that a person who is tormented by organic pain and discomfort gives up his interest in the things of the external world, in so far as they do not concern his suffering. Closer observation teaches us that he also withdraws his libidinal interest from his love-objects: so long as he suffers, he ceases to love. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2314

Categorization

• XREF: Freud’s claim that suffering withdraws love-interest bears on the neuro-psychoanalytic question: does a brain-lesioned patient’s emotional flatness behave like the pain-triggered withdrawal Freud models, or is it structurally different? — connects to: Freud’s libido theory absorbs even organic brain damage into sexual etiology — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 2446

Broader Connections

• Freud’s libido theory absorbs even organic brain damage into sexual etiology #expands (0.85) — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2446