Cosmologic Triadic Drive Theory: The Physics of the Psyche (Consilience)

The Physics of the Psyche is the work of late Dr. William L. Johnson that introduces the reader to the Triadic Drive Theory (TDT), which explains how the forces of the universe create our mentality. It begins from a different reality – about the nature of human beings – than has been commonly held by psychology and psychoanalysis. TDT’s initial proposition is that the constant forces of physics throughout the universe, and in the operations of subatomic particles in the atoms of our brain cells, produce the energy of our two most basic life-determining psychic drives, construdo and destrudo.

Construdo is the drive that helps us to combine and connect thoughts, ideas, emotions, concepts, attitudes, and beliefs, as well as to connect with other cultures, societies, families, and people. The second drive, destrudo, determines why, when, and how such unions are broken apart, damaged, or overthrown. It is proposed that these two drives and their derivatives determine more human behaviors than Freud’s libido drive and its derivatives.

Triadic Drive Theory asserts that the forces of physics that govern and hold the universe together constitute the true universal reality for humans, as well as for all other species. Thus Dr. Johnson proposes an axiom: the universe and the humans are governed by the same principles of physics. So, the focus of this theoretical and psychoanalytic endeavor is about how these forces of physics produce our cognitive or mental drives.

In this book, Dr. Johnson offers application of TDT to clinical practice, including Freud's “dream work,” psychopathology diagnosis, object relations, and work with couples, while adding the physical dimensions of time and space.