Dialogue on 'Depression and Other Painful Affects'

This dialogue on 'Depression and Other Painful Affects' continued the development of the theme of the Congress which was to demonstrate significant differences among analysts in their theoretical and clinical concepts. We shall try to indicate the agreements and disagreements, both theoretical and practical, existing among the speakers and the participants in the discussion. We wish the reader to feel as if he was attending an interchange of ideas not only on psychoanalytical theories but also on clinical practice, through the transcription of the vignettes presented and the ensuing discussion. The occurrence of a real dialogue at a Congress is not frequent. It may be observed that the participants used their time to express their own ideas rather than to establish a dialogue. Anyway, it is the hope of the reporters that they have reflected the proceedings of the meeting in such a way that the reader may have the same experience as those who were present during the dialogue.

In his opening remarks, the Chairman for the morning session, Homer Curtis, informed the audience that after a period of almost a year of correspondence and meetings an attempt was made to establish a different form of communication, different from the usual panel or colloquium. He said: 'We are going to emphasize the dialogue between two important thinkers in the field of mourning, depression and creativity. We are going to use them as our major dialoguists and try to catalyse them and stimulate them with our questions and comments and to see how they handle those comments and those questions.' He then introduced León Grinberg (Madrid), who delivered his paper, 'The "Razor's Edge" in Depression and Mourning' (see Grinberg, 1978).

After Grinberg's presentation, Homer Curtis commented: 'The paper we have just heard is very rich and provocative.' He called the attention of the audience to several phrases, such as 'loss of parts of the self', 'persecutory non-objects', and others. Does th