Freud Theory Course 2021: Seminar 6

Seminar 6: Mourning & Melancholia

Freud, S (1917 [1915]) ‘Mourning and Melancholia’ The Pelican Freud Library, Vol. 11:247 - 268

Freud’s Mourning and Melancholia offers a foundational comparison between normal grief and the pathological state of melancholia. He argues that mourning is a healthy, though painful, process in which the bereaved gradually withdraws libido from the lost person or ideal. This work of detachment happens slowly and consciously, allowing the ego to eventually reinvest in new relationships and interests.
Melancholia, by contrast, resembles mourning but differs in several crucial ways. The individual often cannot clearly identify what has been lost, and the loss is experienced unconsciously. Instead of withdrawing libido from the lost object, the ego identifies with it, turning the lost object inward. This internalisation leads to harsh self‑criticism, feelings of worthlessness, and a collapse of self‑esteem. Freud describes this as the ego attacking itself with the same hostility originally directed toward the ambivalently loved object. The result is a profound disturbance of self‑regard, which can manifest in inhibition, self‑reproach, and a sense of moral failure.
Freud ultimately frames melancholia as a conflict between love and hate directed at the same object, with the ego caught in the crossfire. The paper lays the groundwork for later theories of depression, identification, and the superego, making it one of Freud’s most influential contributions to psychoanalytic thought.