The psychogenesis of a case of melancholia in a woman - an alternative interpretation of freud’s 1920 case.

Abstract

This thesis examines Freud’s 1917 text Mourning and Melancholia paying particular attention to Freud’s concept of the Melancholic. Through the reading of Mourning and Melancholia, a question developed around the melancholic subject as a whole. Using the diagnostic system that Freud writes about in Mourning and Melancholia, this thesis examines the concepts of the loved/hated object choices, and the possible events and processes that have led to those object choices. Freud’s concepts of the id, the ego and the formation of the ego-ideal / super-ego, paying particular attention to the persecutory attacks of the harsh super-ego on the ego, narcissistic desire and narcissistic identification will also be explored. These concepts will then be applied to Freud’s 1920 case The Psychogenesis of a case of Homosexuality in a Woman. The research will show how this case by Freud is an example of Melancholia as set out in Freud’s text Mourning and Melancholia.