Uma cena para a perda: vergonha e melancolia

Abstract

The present article aims to discuss the absence of shame in melancholy and the satisfaction of patients in communicating self-contempt, as described by Freud in 1917. To this purpose, it follows the arguments of the essay Mourning and Melancholy and indicates the necessary conceptual contributions for the presentation of melancholy as a narcissistic neurosis, distinct from the experience of mourning. Considering that shame is an affect that stands on the border between psychic and social, we seek to reflect on the clinical implications of its absence in melancholy.