Dépression essentielle et narcissisme

Abstract

Essential depression has, for many years, been considered almost exclusively from the single point of view of libidinal economy. The Ideal-Ego described by a number of authors is a provisional narcissistic formation that takes place during the development of the Ego. The persistence of the Ideal-Ego in certain pathological organisations, illustrated by two clinical examples, enables the author to describe the topical and dynamic dimensions favouring the advent of an essential depression. This article highlights the configuration of an intra-narcissistic conflict in which the Ideal is one of motor functions, an Ideal that aims to exclude the erogenous anal zone. The effects on the organisation of thought of this opposition between narcissism and the sadistic anal instincts have been only very briefly studied. The aim of this article is to underline the dynamics of conflict : those of an overwhelming of the Ego by the Ideal-Ego, forcing the former to employ the means of motor, behavioural and operational functions in lieu and place of secondary repression. © Presses Universitaires de France.