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Alienation is based on an encounter between one person’s desire for self-alienation and the other’s desire to alienate. Its strength lies in the precious interplay between Eros and Thanatos, and between sexual and narcissistic goals. For alienated individuals, their doubts can be silenced in the quietude of a certainty, usually shared by others. For the bearers of the alienating force, they can thus ensure a similar silencing of doubt and critical activity within themselves, by identifying with what their partner conveys to them in terms of certainty.