One of the most controversial terms within the psychoanalytic tradition, it was coined by Freud to reference the psychic energy that he thought constituted the Id force in psychic life.
Early in his career Freud felt that the libido represented the sexual life-urges but subsequently rethought his position to include all positive creative drives.
The quarrel over what constituted libido led to Carl Jung’s decision to go his own way and develop his own form of analytic psychotherapy.
Freud went on to further develop his idea of the libido through postulating both the life-instinct and the death instinct.
