In psychology, libido is a term used to describe the energy created by survival and sexual instincts. It is a psychic drive or energy, usually conceived as sexual in nature, but sometimes conceived as including other forms of desire. The concept of libido originated with Sigmund Freud, who defined it as the energy, regarded as a quantitative magnitude, of those instincts which have to do with all that may be comprised under the word love. Freud initially associated the libido primarily with sexual desire, but later expanded the meaning of the term so that it came to represent more of a general life instinct, referring to instincts connected with self-preservation and survival, which still included sex but also added other motivators.
For Freud, libido is present in what he defined as the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is where the pleasure principle is found, what we consider immediate pleasure. It’s the part of our psychology that unconsciously guides us towards delight. In analytic psychology, the term libido may also be used to refer to a life force that provides energy for nearly all activities including biological, social, cultural, sexual, and creative endeavors.
Factors that affect libido include lifestyle, stress, physical health, age, individual personality, and more. The libido generally decreases as people age, with men’s libido decreasing in middle adulthood and women’s libido increasing into middle age and decreasing after menopause. Relationship satisfaction strongly affects libido. Couples who attend sex therapy and learn new sex techniques may experience an increase in libido. Psychologists have often debated whether there are innate libidinal differences in men and women. While in popular culture it is commonly said that men have a higher libido than women, this claim is actually highly controversial and evidence to support it is mixed.
