Premium
Donald Winnicott's Unique View of Depression with Particular Reference to his 1963 Paper on the Value of Depression
Author(s) -
Brogan Chris
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
british journal of psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1752-0118
pISSN - 0265-9883
DOI - 10.1111/bjp.12358
Subject(s) - psychoanalytic theory , depression (economics) , psychology , creativity , psychoanalysis , value (mathematics) , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , keynesian economics , communication , machine learning , computer science , economics
Winnicott's unique contributions to a psychoanalytic theory of depression are not as familiar as Freud and Klein's writings. I concentrate on six areas: depression as a developmental achievement which denotes unit status; the role of destruction which arises from love (as opposed to hate which for Winnicott is a more mature affect); the importance of contributing‐in and the response of the (m)other in recovery from depression; the startling idea that the patient seeks out the analyst's depression; some thoughts on the differences between Winnicott and Freud and Klein; and lastly, the effect of depression on the development of self, creativity and the capacity to play. Winnicott does not shirk the darker side of being human, but at the same time he offers us a hopeful picture.