The Depressive Position in the Analysis of a Child

Abstract

The analytic material of a seven-year-old boy is used to observe the vicissitudes that individuals must go through until they attain the elaboration of the depressive position, which is so important as a sign of maturation. The first part comprises a brief revision of what the English school means by depressive position and how this concept started from Freud’s study on mourning and melancholia (1913). In addition, it is pointed out that in the course of analysis this position repeats itself, as well as the other positions which constitute the emotional development in childhood. Biographic data of the boy are given, among which the following appear as symptoms: delayed language acquisition, learning difficulties, external world contact difficulties. Observations during the analysis lead to the explanation of these symptoms as an expression of the patient’s incapacity of reparation. We point out too the experiencing of a persecutory position expressed by the fear of door-frames, an aggressive attitude towards the external world, reciprocal mother and child rebounding and the rapid contact established with the analyst; the latter expressing the necessity of a good figure. Fragments of the analytic material are transcribed, which show quite clearly the boy’s persecutory anxiety and deep object division in a former phase. He felt threatened by the nuns at school. He felt his analyst very protective and idealized. Later on, owing to the analyst’s pregnancy, the boy feared to lose her. He introjected her, adopting a feminine attitude. The fusion of his objects, the bad and the good one, was realized inside him. He thus entered the depressive position. But the baby’s birth increased his hatred. Owing to his incapacity of reparation, he resorted again to the division of objects. Ominipotence was his defence during the sessions until, by effect of the analytic rela tionship, he was able to keep inside him the good internal object together with the good world object. This made him able to experience’ the depressive position and elaborate it, which was a great improvement towards the resolution of his conflicts.