The Protective Function of Depressive States

Severe depressive states are characterized by a profound abasement of self-esteem and the appearance of bitter self-recriminations, a shattering of confidence and an associated retardation of personal initiative, a loss of the capacity for enjoyment and love, and an experience of utter hopelessness and despair about the future. A variety of psychodynamic and reparative functions have been ascribed to the manifestations of depressive illness. These include the turning inward and discharging of hostility toward a lost love object,1 the expiation of felt sinfulness through a prolonged process of self-punishment,2 the protecting of the ego against further frustration by the damping down of desire and need,3 and a crying out for sympathy and care from a love object.4 In what follows, I shall not argue against any of these conceptions; the goal of this paper is rather to discuss another set of defensive and reparative functions which may be served by the depressive state. These functions are bound up with experiences and affirmations of hopelessness, despair, and worthlessness, and they will be seen to constitute the person's attempts to protect himself from unbearable repetitions of the narcissistic injuries and disappointments which initially set the depressive process in motion.

Severely depressed patients regularly express feelings of utter hopelessness and despair. One impact of these feelings appears in the loss of the future time perspective. To look into the future—indeed, to look forward to anything—implies some measure of hope. The inclination of human beings to live not only in the immediacy of the present but also in relation to an imaginary projected future is intimately linked to the psychological action of wishes, plans, and dreams. The depressed patient entertains no dreams and no plans, except perhaps for suicide. He acts as if he had no future. If he permits himself at all to think beyond the confines of his present suffering, he envisions and recoils fro