About depression after breakups and losses

Abstract

In the psychoanalytical clinic, a high number of patients frequently look for treatment after experiencing loss, abandonment or a great disappointment with a loved one. In a vulnerable and unstable state of mind, they experience intense suffering and a depressive mental condition which is very hard to overcome; many times they also present suicidal ideas and the will to commit them. This paper intends to discuss the subjective condition of the people who feel that their loved and lost ones are so utterly necessary that without them they just don’t have internal self sustenance. Presenting a few fragments of clinical cases, the mental condition that transforms the mourning and the separation into something impossible to be overcome is studied in this paper. The psychoanalytical approach suggests that it is possible that these individuals are experiencing once more a profound and abyssal loss related to the most essential and archaic quality of their internal world and to their relationship with the primary object.