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In this work, the author discusses in general theoretical fashion with a superabundance of quotations from the literature but, regrettably, with only a few very perfunctory clinical vignettes, some aspects of the depressive syndrome with particular emphasis on the genetic ones.
According to Haynal, its beginnings are to be found in the progressive separation of the infant from the mother which occurs in the process of individuation. "The feeling of having lost the object or, rather, certain aspects of the object, together with the resignation to this loss, to the extent that the child is unable to recreate the object within the self, marks the beginning of the depressive affect. This can be overcome if the mourning process develops harmoniously but it may give way to a vulnerability to depression if events become traumatic."
This feeling of having lost the object marks the transition from marcissism to object relations and involves the relinquishment of infantile omnipotence through the experience of impotence, helplessness, and hopelessness which occurs when the loss assumes a character of finality, the patient finding himself confronted with a fait accompli