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BOREDOM IN A CASE OF DEPRESSION. Margaret Stuart, M.D.
A young woman with a history of chronic mild depression over a period of some ten years complained frequently of boredom. This symptom in common with somatically expressed anxiety, agoraphobia, and fear of insanity, was shown to represent withdrawal of cathexis from the outside world, and a focusing of conscious awareness on her own feelings—emotional or physical. Over expression of 'feeling' in this patient was equated with aggression and with destruction of or by its object. Boredom in a social gathering was a reaction to the fantasy of sexual aggressiveness toward men or of successful competition with other women for masculine attention.
The patient's early history gave evidence of severe disturbance during the initial phases of oral libidinal development. The depression, of which boredom was one aspect, represented a mourning for two important family members who died during her eleventh year. Boredom was an aspect of regression from object relationships to incorporative identifications. Her behavior and attitudes in 'boring' situations was an acquiescence to the dictates of the introjected objects; further, it was observed that, in so far as it was characterized by nonparticipation in the outer world and an expressed wish to 'feel nothing', boredom represented identification with the deadness of the introjected objects.