Eros, Thanatos, and the Awakening of Oistros

Being in Love With Life and “Our” World

Georganda, Evgenia T.

Hellenic Association for Existential Psychology, Athens, Greece

Evgenia T. Georganda, Hellenic Association for Existential Psychology, Socratous 8b, Kifissia, Athens 145-61, Greece [email protected]

Received October 2, 2018

revised February 12, 2019

Accepted April 8, 2019

The Humanistic Psychologist 48(2):p 133-141, June 2020. | DOI: 10.1037/hum0000142

This article is based on a presentation for the symposium on “Existential Reflections on Love, Its Complexities, Meanings, and Possibilities” held at the 2018 American Psychological Association conference in San Francisco, California. The article highlights the value of the concept of Oistros both for therapy and for the way in which we live our lives. It offers a definition of Oistros and explores the conditions, namely Eros and Thanatos, that serve to bring forth and sustain this way of being. A discussion of the function of Oistros and its relevance to living life well is offered to illustrate its potential primacy as an existential concept.