Citation

Federn P. Psychoanal. Rev. 1932; 19: 129-151.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1932, Guilford Publications)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The common basis of instinctive behavior is the reinstatement of a formerly existing state (the repetition compulsion). Since the first state was that of inanimate matter, all living things must have an impulse to return to this state, hence the theory of a death instinct, an impulse to destruction directed toward the self. The death instinct would not be necessary to explain sadism. In sadism, the death instinct is so closely bound up with the sex instinct that it is hidden by the latter. The death instinct in its pure form appears when it is directed inward, not as destructive impulses toward other objects. The most serious form of melancholia shows this pure death instinct. In this disease, libidinal impulses have ceased and the death instinct directed toward the self is in control. It is true that the genesis of melancholia is the introjection of the love object into the self, and that there is at first a pleasure in self-torture. But when the disease has fully developed even this pleasure has been lost. Guilt feelings cause the person to dislike himself, and depression is a product of guilt feelings. Melancholia begins either with depression or a feeling of guilt. Against the feeling of guilt, the ego tries to maintain its narcissistic libido, until the libido is spent and exhausted, and the death instinct and impulse to torture reign supreme. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords: Suicide