Introductory Lectures on Neuropsychoanalysis: Lecture Three Part 3 " How the Mind Functions" Seven Emotional Needs

FIVE ADDITIONAL EMOTIONAL NEEDS ........... Freud suggested two primal motivations or instinctual drives: Eros (life) and Thanatos (death.) Most analysts today understand these two drives as sexuality and aggression. Affective Neuroscience says there are SEVEN such drives/basic emotions/needs. Not only does neuroscience add five more basic needs, it also understands differently Freud's first two. In modern neuroscience sex is referred to as LUST and aggression is replaced by RAGE. I have explained LUST in my earlier comments about sex. RAGE results when obstacles get in our way that prevent us from meeting our other needs. Say someone tries to harm one of your children. You would quickly be driven into a RAGE to protect them from harm. This RAGE would be a form of aggression. The first additional need added by neuroscience is the Attachment need (PANIC/GRIEF.) This need for attachment was actually first discovered by the psychoanalyst John Bowlby. It is the need that has led to Attachment Theory and Research in academic psychology. Most psychoanalysts today would also affirm that we are driven to attach to our primary caregivers--first to our Mothers, second to our Fathers and then to anyone who deeply cares for us. When we are separated from our attachment figures we first experience PANIC. If the separation becomes permanent we experence GRIEF. The second added need is CARE. This is also an attachment need. Not only do we need to be cared for by our attachment figures, we are further driven to care for others. This is most clearly seen in the care for children and other little ones, but it applies to anyone we deeply care for-- students, clients, friends, significant others, etc. The third added need is SEEKING. Seeking is the built in human motivation to seek out new things, new people, new thoughts and ideas, etc. It is often called the curiosity or adventure need. The fourth added need is the instinctual drive for Safety. We need to feel safe in the world- emotionally and physically. If we do not feel safe we experience FEAR. The fifth and final need added by neuroscience to psychoanalysis is PLAY. We are driven to play-- to have fun-- to compete in games and enjoy social relationships and activities with others......I suspect that you can easily see from your own life how we are all instinctually driven at primal levels by these seven needs of: LUST ( sex), removing threatening obstacles (RAGE), attachment to others (PANIC/GRIEF when not met), CARE for others, SEEKING novelty, safety (and FEAR when not safe), and PLAY. What you may not know is all mammals are driven by these seven needs. And, that all of us as mammals are driven by these, because they all enhance our survival and reproductive success. Again, this is why evolution built them into us and made them pleasureable. If as human beings we find healthy and workable ways to satisfy these needs we will have happy and fulfilled lives. If we do not find ways to meet these needs we will lead unpleasant, anxious and sad lives. As Modern Freudian psychoanalysis puts it, we have to find ways to satisfy these seven ID drive demands within the reality of our reasonable EGO and the outside world. Finding as much pleasure (ID) within Reality (EGO) as possible is the requirement for a healthy life. Now that we know the seven needs that comprise our ID, I will share in the next section how we go about modifying them through our reasonable EGO to make sure they get met within REALITY.