ABSTRACT
The theory of the pleasure principle is in essence an attempt to explain why wishing is ubiquitous in the lives both of the mentally healthy and those afflicted by mental pathology. Soon after Sigmund Freud began to treat and investigate cases of hysteria and obsessional neurosis, he observed the close relationship that exists between the symptomatology and the wishes that were unacceptable to the patient. The forms that dreams and psychotic phenomena assume lead in their own way to the theory of the pleasure principle. The theory of the pleasure principle is composed of concepts that are at the heart of Freud’s theory of mind. Pleasure is gained when the unpleasure is removed by satisfaction of the wish, in reality. Longing and sexual need can, each in its own way, cause a build-up of cathexes and lead to unpleasure. The theory of pleasure principle demonstrates that Freud judged the value of his theoretical formulations in accordance to clinical observations.
