Principles of organisation of psychic energy within psychoanalysis : a systems theory perspective

Abstract

The concept of Psychic Energy holds a very important position in the field of Psychoanalysis, particularly within the theories of Sigmund Freud. These ideas, including the notion of a constancy of excitation, or the ‘pleasure principle’, as well as energy transfer and ‘cathexis’, are important not only historically in terms of the subsequent development of Psychoanalytic theory, but also remain a core conceptual assumption of a number of concepts in contemporary use. However, the central ideas related to psychic energy have undergone little substantial revision or development since the end of Freud’s career, despite a number of compelling critiques that call into question the central definitions and assumptions of these concepts, particularly the principles defining their governance. Grobbelaar (1989) has suggested that a number of problems within Psychoanalytic theory can be powerfully addressed through recourse to central propositions from the field of systems theory, and the case is made in the present thesis that some of the core problems with the energic theory may indeed be the result of a pre-systems epistemology. The present study proposes that psychic energy be defined as recursively constituted through three levels of the human system (inorganic, organic and informational), and that the core principles of regulation at the informational level is not constancy, or pleasure, but rather the necessity of maintaining organisation. In line with this proposition, the study reviews a number of theoretical propositions from systems theory and cybernetics (including the notions of energy defined as ‘information’ or ‘free energy’) and how they may be usefully deployed as principles of organisation of psychic energy within the psychoanalytic framework. Examples of how these principles may be used to explain Freud’s core observations of ego functioning are presented as well.