Drive Exerts a Constant Trajectory: Revisiting the “Constant Pressure” Through Neuropsychoanalysis and the Free Energy Principle

Drive theory is a cornerstone of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Motivation, affect, and bodily intensities are all tied to the notion of drive, especially in Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. However, orthodox drive theory has been criticized for its arcane, unquestioned status, despite inconsistencies with clinical experience. Recent advances in affective and computational neuroscience also challenge some tenets of drive theory. Here, I discuss criticisms of the postulate that drive exerts a “constant pressure.” I then propose a revision to Freudo-Lacanian drive theory through contemporary neuropsychoanalysis (namely, the work of Mark Solms) and theoretic neurobiology (Karl Friston’s Free Energy Principle). This leads me to claim that the investment in a drive trajectory through (belief) space is constant. Stressing the constancy of the drive trajectory leads to an emphasis on unique homeorhetic trajectories, each subject’s unique solution to the universal problem of emotional contradictions and the felt uncertainty arising therein.