Atherden | From Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle....

. . In the psycho-analytical theory of the mind we take it for granted that the course of mental processes is automatically regulated by the ‘pleasure principle’: that is to say, we believe that any given process originates in an unpleasant state of tension and thereupon determines for itself such a path that its ultimate issue coincides with a relaxation of this tension, i.e. with avoidance of ‘pain’ or with production of pleasure. When we concider the psychic processes under observation in reference to such a sequence we are introducing into our work the economic point of view. In our opinion a presentation which seeks to estimate, not only the topographical and dynamic, but also the economic element is the most complete that we can at present imagine, and deserves to be destinguished by the term meta-psychological.