Jung’s break with Freud was predicated on several key differences: the possibility of significant future psychological developments (transformation), the interpretation of symbols (as signals of emergence rather than as disguised repetitions of memory and the past), and the nature and direction of libido. On this last point, object relations theorists also had a disagreement with Freud. For Freud, libido had its origin in the sex drive and exerted a pressure on the psyche toward discharge and reduction of tension. When this was inhibited, other substitutes were found (sublimations) or neuroses developed. For object relations theorists (the English Schools of Fairbairn, Guntrip, Klein, Winnicott, Bion, etc.), libido was the desire for objects and for relationships. Its pressures were not directed toward release and tension reduction but toward attachment to suitable objects in the environment. It finds its satisfaction in relationships between self and other, not in the discharge of drive energy. For Jung, the direction and goal of libido is yet other. Neither Freud nor the object relation theorists speak of what he had in mind, namely the unfolding and realization of the self in consciousness. For Jung, the goal of libido is individuation. This would be his contribution on this point.
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Tags: Freud, Jung, Murray Stein
