Abstract

MELLO, Maria Celina Anhaia. Night: timeless darkness. Rev. bras. psicanál [online]. 2010, vol.44, n.1, pp. 85-98. ISSN 0486-641X.

By analyzing the clinical samples of a four year-old child and of a twenty-four year-old woman, my attempt is to develop ideas in relation to night representations and its consequences, such as insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, and death anguish. While analyzing the child’s graphic production, on the one hand, and the young woman’s dreams, on the other, I try to establish a similarity among the different ways of expression used by both of them. Issues of the psychic world, related to time and to timelessness, are approached. Sibling rivalry situations become evident, as well as attacks to the mother’s body and oedipal configurations. These are viewed in the child and in the woman as if both play same character in different points in life.

Keywords : time; representation; dreams; night terrors; primary process; secondary process.

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