Abstract

COSTA, Mariana Carvalho da  and  MEDEIROS, Cynthia Pereira de. A Freudian path of depressions. Psicol. rev. (Belo Horizonte) [online]. 2015, vol.21, n.1, pp. 126-140. ISSN 1677-1168.  http://dx.doi.org/DOI-10.5752/P.1678-9523.2015V21N1P126.

Currently, depression appears as recurrent diagnosis and the prospect of becoming, in 20 years, the most common disease in the world. The approach to this problem runs into the difficulty of the lack of a single definition and a consensus on the distinction between the terms depression and melancholy, revealed by the existing literature, including psychotherapy. Thus, this study aims to investigate the Freudian definitions (or approximations) of depression and melancholy, mapping the major texts that address the topic, linking them with the reflections of contemporary authors. Based on the course undertaken, we conclude Depression may be seen as stemming from anxiety neuroses of a sexual inhibition, and melancholia as a narcissistic neurosis, being understood as a special form of psychosis. Thus, we hope to have contributed to the advancement of issues and questions arising from psychoanalytic practice and resulting direction of the treatment.

Keywords : Depression; Melancholy; Psychoanalysis; Freud.

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