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The feeling of rancour implies two different coexisting dimensions of time. The first one is diachronic and entails a progressive deterioration of psychic life. The second one is a-temporal and is the dimension of an eternal present. This dimension is related to the trauma which is at the origin of the rancorous status. In melancholic depression - which is characterized by the direction against the self of the unconscious destructiveness that derived from the hate against an object of love who had disappointed, abandoned and humbled him - a rancorous nucleus of an anal nature seems to be present. The feeling of rancour reminds us of rancidity, deterioration and bed smells so that, paraphrasing the famous Freudian expression, we can say that «the stinking shadow of the object falls on the ego». The clinical case that is presented following the progress of the analysis, shows the progressive resurfacing during the sessions of different layers of the rancour which are progressively discovered. This disclosure allows the patient, starting from a superficial depression, to contact the nucleus of melancholy and makes the mourning process possible.
KEY WORDS: Anality, melancholia, melancholic depression, mourning, rancour.