The striving for death or for nirvana. In Freud's
early psychoanalytic formulations this notion is only hinted at; later it was
made explicit in the form of Thanatos, the death instinct, which was conceived
of as operating along with Eros, the life instinct. There are some
terminological confusions to be found in the writings of psychoanalysts, with
regard to the pain principle. On one hand it is used as here, but compare
pleasure-pain principle, for which there are rather different connotations.