What is Libido and How Does it Affect Us?

Libido, which is the sexual desire or sexual drive, can vary greatly from person to person. It is also affected by a person's preferences and life circumstances. Medical conditions, hormone levels, medications, lifestyle and relationship issues can all have an impact on libido. In psychoanalytic theory, libido is a psychic impulse or energy that is associated with the sexual instinct, but can also be present in other instinctive desires and impulses. The Mayo Clinic states that high libido can become a problem when it leads to sexual activity that seems out of control, such as sexual compulsion.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding flibanserin, a failed antidepressant that causes drowsiness, and its potential to affect libido. Sigmund Freud, who is credited with the modern use of the term, defined libido as energy that has a quantitative magnitude. Libido is mainly regulated by activity in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway (ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens). Testosterone and dopamine are two hormones and neurotransmitters that are associated with libido in humans. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung believed that libido was the totality of psychic energy, not just sexual desire.

According to Jung, Pudicitia had an energetic attitude and stuck his spear down Libido's throat. For Freud, an individual with psychopathology was seen as immature and psychoanalysis was used to bring these fixations to consciousness so that the energy of the libido could be released and used for constructive sublimation. Libido can also be referred to as an individual's urge to engage in sexual activity; its antonym is dead or destroyed. Researchers are divided on how many women lack a libido and how best to help them. Mental health has been linked to libido and there has been an increase in risk-avoidance culture called “Safetism”.Age, medical conditions, medications, lifestyle and relationship issues can all have an effect on libido.

It is natural that libido has been affected by what appears to be a world out of control.