Death drive is the [[psychoanalytic]] term used to describe a particular kind of self-destructive [[drive]]. It is a self-undermining motive. In contrast to the [[pleasure principle]], the death drive is about a constant self-undermining so as to continuously experience excitation. [[Freud]] came to believe that the pleasure principle is in service to the death drive.
[[Freud]] describes the death drive in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, noting that soldiers who had experienced some kind of trauma continued to relive their trauma.
[[Freud]] contrasts the death drive with the [[pleasure principle]].
The aim of all life is death. β Sigmund Freud
[[Lacan]] believed that every drive was ultimately a death drive, and was intrinsically linked to the concept of [[jouissance]].