Abstract

LUSTOZA, Rosane Zétola. Differential diagnosis of melancholia in Freud and Lacan. Arq. bras. psicol. [online]. 2018, vol.70, n.2, pp. 127-140. ISSN 1809-5267.

In Mourning and Melancholia, Freud proposes three basic assumptions about melancholia: the object's loss, the affective ambivalence and the identification with the lost object. Such criteria are necessary conditions, but not enough to establish a diagnosis. Based on Lacan's teachings, that suppose a structural difference between psychopathologies, the necessity of clearly distinguishing melancholia from neurotic depression appears. Assuming that melancholia is a clinical type of psychosis, this research aims to delimitate the criteria for a differential diagnosis, considering the contributions made by Lacan about the theme. Furthermore, it is proposed a return to Freud through Lacan, for whom the lost object is resumed from the idea of the object a. It is concluded that psychotic certainty is the fourth assumption of melancholia.

Keywords : Melancholia; Psychosis; Structural diagnosis.

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