The Incidences of Superego in Melancholia and Its Clinical Consequences

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present important theoretical formulations concerning the manifestation of the superego on the melancholia. Freud, in his considerations, notes the specificity of the superego on the melancholia, which suffers considerably with the guilt produced by this element. Considering the construction of the clinical understanding of the melancholia since Ancient Greek until Modern Psychiatry, one can observe the specificity of the freudian treatment, that, by rescuing the term “melancholia” over “manic depressive psychosis”, allowed a broader treatment and clinical listening of the melancholic subject. From that, it was noted the melancholic structuring from the absolut loss of an object, leading to an impoverishment of the Ego. That leads to a self punishment by the melancholic subject, which finds the principal means through the Superego. Going by the assumption that the melancholia belongs in the category of the psychoses, it’s possible to think of a superego closer to the Real, since in the psychosis there isn’t a significant in the Symbolic to mediate its cruelty, which leads the subject to submit completely to the Other’s orders, taken as a voice, not acting not acting like a desiring subject in front of this Other. The Other occupies a deaf role by not direcing their desire to the subject, making it impossible for the subject to find theirself in their desire. By subverting this role in the transference, is possible for the analist to sustain a clinical listening, and for the melancholic subject, to speak.

Key-words: Melancholia. Superego. Psychoanalisis. Voice. Psychosis.