Psychoanalysis, inaugurated by Sigmund Freud at the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, is not merely a clinical practice but a revolution in the way we understand human subjectivity. At the core of this revolution lies the discovery that we are not “masters in our own house.” This iconic phrase by Freud encapsulates the idea that consciousness is only a small part of a much vaster, more complex psychic apparatus, largely inaccessible to direct volition. To organize this inner chaos, Freud developed two theoretical models (topographies). The second model, the Second Topography, introduces the dynamic triad: Id, Ego, and Superego.
The Id represents the foundation of our entire psychic structure. It is the reservoir of energy, the cauldron of drives, and the most primitive aspect of our existence. To understand the Id is to plunge into the biological and instinctual roots that move us, often in defiance of our logic or morality.
The Primitive Nature and the Drive Reservoir
The Id (or It, from the German Es) is the only instance of the personality present from birth. At birth, we are purely Id. It is the biological component of the personality, containing everything inherited, everything present at birth, and everything fixed in the individual’s constitution. Imagine the Id as the raw material of the psyche, a state of unrefined energy seeking expression.
Unlike the Ego, which develops through contact with external reality, the Id has no contact with the outside world. It lives in subjective isolation, unaware of physical laws, social norms, or the passage of time. For the Id, there is no “yesterday” or “tomorrow”; everything is an eternal present demanding immediate satisfaction. It is governed by what Freud called the Primary Process, a mode of psychic functioning in which energy flows freely, leaping from one object to another in search of discharge.
Within this reservoir reside the drives (Triebe). Freud essentially classified them into two major groups: Eros (life drive), which encompasses self-preservation and sexual desire (libido), and Thanatos (death drive), which manifests as aggressiveness and the tendency toward repetition and the return to the inorganic. The Id is, therefore, the engine that provides the fuel for all our actions, thoughts, and feelings. Without the energy of the Id, the Ego would be an empty, lifeless structure.
The Absolute Rule of the Pleasure Principle
The most defining characteristic of the Id is its functioning under the Pleasure Principle. This principle demands the immediate gratification of all needs, desires, and impulses. When the Id feels tension, whether hunger, sexual desire, or discomfort, it seeks to reduce it instantly to return to a state of equilibrium (homeostasis).
For the Id, frustration is unbearable. If a baby is hungry, it cannot rationalize that the mother is preparing the bottle; it cries desperately because the Id demands the immediate removal of the tension of hunger. This blind pursuit of pleasure does not take safety or morality into account. If the Id were left free to act without the mediation of the Ego, the individual would pursue what they desire impulsively and often in dangerous or socially unacceptable ways.
It is important to note that “pleasure” in psychoanalysis is not necessarily what we understand as happiness or joy in common sense. It refers to the discharge of tension. The Id operates amorally; it knows neither good nor evil, virtue nor vice. It only feels the pressure of the drive and seeks the shortest path to satisfaction. This pursuit may occur through motor action (if the Ego allows it) or through fantasy. When reality denies the desired object, the Id may create a hallucinatory image of that object to obtain partial satisfaction, a process clearly seen in dreams.
The Drive-Unconscious and the Absence of Logic
One of the most fascinating distinctions of the Id is its complete lack of formal logic. In the Id, contradictions coexist side by side without canceling each other out. An individual may harbor, simultaneously, profound love and mortal hatred for the same person within the Id. Since this instance lacks judgment or synthesis, functions belonging to the Ego, these opposing impulses do not conflict with one another; they simply “are” there, each pressing for its own discharge.
Moreover, the Id is entirely unconscious. Although not everything unconscious is Id (parts of the Ego and Superego are also unconscious), all of the Id is unconscious. It has no clear linguistic organization; it expresses itself through symbols, images, and raw affects. This is why access to the Id is only possible indirectly: through the analysis of dreams, parapraxes, jokes, and neurotic symptoms.
In dreams, for example, the Id takes advantage of the relaxation of Ego censorship to give free rein to its desires. However, even in sleep, the content of the Id is often so chaotic or disturbing that it must be “disguised” by the dream-work (condensation and displacement). What the Id wants is raw drive satisfaction; what the Ego perceives is a symbolic and sometimes incomprehensible dream. The Id ignores the principle of non-contradiction and the linearity of time, becoming an atemporal force that keeps childhood desires active and pulsating well into old age.
The Dynamics of Conflict with the Ego and the Superego
To visualize the functioning of the Id in relation to the other instances, Freud used a famous metaphor: that of the rider and his horse. The Id is the horse, strong, vigorous, providing energy and movement. The Ego is the rider, who tries to guide the animal’s force along a safe and socially acceptable path. The rider (Ego) is generally weaker than the horse (Id) and often must lead it where the horse already wants to go, pretending to be in control.
Conflict is the basis of mental health and psychopathology in the Freudian view. The Id presses: “I want this now!” The Superego, the internalization of social and parental norms, counters: “This is wrong; you must not do this.” The Ego then finds itself in a difficult position, having to mediate the irrational demands of the Id, the perfectionistic and punitive demands of the Superego, and the limitations imposed by Reality.
When the Id is excessively repressed by the Ego (under pressure from the Superego), drive energy does not disappear; it transforms into symptoms. Conversely, if the Id dominates the personality, we see severe impulsivity, perversions, or psychoses, in which contact with reality is lost in favor of fulfilling internal desires. Psychic health, for psychoanalysis, does not consist in eliminating the Id, which would be impossible and would result in a life without desire or motivation, but in establishing a relationship in which the Ego can make use of the Id’s energy without being enslaved by it. As Freud wrote in his New Introductory Lectures: “Where the Id was, the Ego shall come” (Wo Es war, soll Ich werden).
The Id in Clinical Practice and Everyday Life
Although the Id may seem like an abstract concept or something restricted to the consulting room, it manifests constantly in daily life. It explains those sudden impulses that lead us to say something we did not intend (the parapraxis) or the inexplicable attraction to situations or people we know are “wrong” for us. The Id is the eternal child within the adult, the part of us that never learned to accept the world’s “no.”
In psychoanalytic clinic, the goal is not to “cure” the Id but to make it known. By translating the Id’s impulses into words and consciousness, the subject gains the possibility of choice. Instead of being acted by a blind drive, they can begin to decide how to channel that energy. Sublimation, transforming a primitive impulse into something socially productive, such as art, work, or science, is the most refined way of dealing with the Id.
This text was translated directly from Brazilian Portuguese, and minor transcription or translation inaccuracies may be present.
References
FREUD, Sigmund (1915). Os instintos e suas vicissitudes. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Psicológicas Completas de Sigmund Freud. Tradução sob a supervisão de Jayme Salomão. Rio de Janeiro: Imago, 1974. v. 14, pp. 137-162.
FREUD, Sigmund (1923). O id e o ego. In: FREUD, Sigmund. Edição Standard Brasileira das Obras Psicológicas Completas de Sigmund Freud. Tradução sob a supervisão de Jayme Salomão. Rio de Janeiro: Imago, 1976. v. 19, p. 25-83.
SILVA, Frederico de Lima. Literatura e violência: efeitos do desmentido na contística de Rinaldo de Fernandes. 2017. 205 f. Dissertação (Letras) - Centro de Ciências Humanas, Letras e Artes, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, 2017. Disponível em: https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/11915. Acesso em: 10 fev. 2026.
SILVA, Frederico de Lima. O pudor da Esfinge ou, simplesmente, mais uma divida/dúvida sobre as mulheres?: um estudo da perversão feminina na literatura de Rinaldo de Fernandes. 2025. 324 f. Tese (Doutorado em Letras) – Centro de Ciência Humanas, Letras e Artes, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, 2026. Disponível em: https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/37167. Acesso em: 10 fev. 2026.
