Editing Libido (section)

{{Short description|Psychological or sexual drive or energy}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Sex drive|other uses|Sex Drive (disambiguation)}}

In [[psychology]], '''libido''' ({{IPAc-en|l|ɪ|ˈ|b|iː|d|oʊ}}; {{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|libīdō}}|desire}}) is [[psyche (psychology)|psychic]] drive or energy, usually conceived of as [[human sexuality|sexual]] in nature, but sometimes conceived of as including other forms of [[desire]].<ref>{{Cite book| url= https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/107907|title=Oxford English Dictionary (OED Online)|publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1989| edition= 2nd| location= Oxford |url-access= subscription| access-date=28 March 2021}}</ref> The term ''libido'' was originally developed by [[Sigmund Freud]], the pioneering originator of [[psychoanalysis]]. With direct reference to Plato's Eros, the term initially referred only to specific [[sexual desire]], later expanded to the concept of a universal psychic energy that drives all instincts and whose ''[[Id, ego and superego#Psychic apparatus|great reservoir is the id]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Platon |title=Symposion}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Freud |first1=Sigmund |title=Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse |pages=99}}</ref><ref>Sigmund Freud, ''The Ego and the Id'', ''On Metapsychology'' (Penguin Freud Library 11) p. 369.</ref> The libido partly according to its synthesising, partly to its analytical aspect called ''life-'' and ''death-drive'' - thus becomes the source of all natural forms of expression: the behaviour of sexuality as well as striving for social commitment (''maternal love instinct'' etc.), skin [[pleasure]], food, knowledge and victory in the areas of species- and [[self-preservation]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Libido |url= https://dictionary.apa.org/libido |work= APA Dictionary of Psychology |publisher=American Psychological Association |access-date=19 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Akhtar |first1=Salman |title=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychoanalysis |date=2009 |publisher=Karnac |location=London |page=159}}</ref>

In common or [[colloquial]] usage, a person's overall sexual drive is often referred to as that person's "libido". In this sense, libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the [[sex hormone]]s and associated neurotransmitters that act upon the [[nucleus accumbens]] (primarily [[testosterone]], [[estrogen]], and [[dopamine]], respectively) regulate sex drive in humans.<ref name="MEDRS review" /> Sexual drive can be affected by social factors such as work and family; psychological factors such as personality and stress; also by medical conditions, medications, lifestyle, relationship issues, and age.