Psychopathology: Theory and Practice

3 October 2019 – Raffaella Hilty – Depression: A Psychoanalytical Approach

In view of the widespread use of antidepressant medication and time-limited cognitive-behavioural therapy as so-called treatments of choice for depression, many practising mental health professionals have lost sight of the landmark contribution of the early psychoanalysts who made great strides in the understanding of severe melancholia, more than one hundred years ago. Raffaella Hilty will provide a detailed overview of some of the most seminal psychodynamic contributions to the study of depressive illness, beginning with the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud, who, in his classic essay, “Mourning and Melancholia”, formulated a profound theory of the impact of loss and bereavement. We shall also consider the contributions of other major psychoanalytical thinkers including Melanie Klein, René Spitz, Edward Bibring, Donald Winnicott, John Bowlby, and Edith Jacobson.