Death Drive

In classical psychoanalysis, the death drive is an aspect of libidinal energy that seeks "to lead organic life back into the inanimate state." For Sigmund Freud, it "express[es] itself‍— though probably only in part‍— as a drive of destruction directed against the external world and other organisms", for example, in the behaviour of predation. It complements the life drive, which encompasses self-preservation and reproduction behaviours such as nutrition and sexuality. Both aspects of libido form the common basis of Freud's dual drive theory.