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To the Editors: Dr. Berliner's papers on masochism (1942-1958) have over the years been of considerable interest to me because it is always stimulating to encounter the writings of an original thinker, particularly when they are relative to our clinical work. However, in his present paper on “The Depressive Character” [The Psychoanalytic Forum, Vol. 1, No. 3] wherein he attempts to connect depression with masochism, I believe he brings out conceptual relationships which are unclear, both in terms of nosology as well as in regards to levels of psychic functioning.
As to the first point of confusion, Dr. Berliner seems to not distinguish depression as a descriptive term from depression as a diagnostic category in our psychoanalytic continuum. True depression and depressive reactions come about as a result of the loss of a loved object and should be kept separate from those conditions wherein the loss of an ego part is the main contributing factor. Dr. Berliner is correct in describing these people as experiencing a low self-esteem and feeling empty with a readiness to accept blame and the badness of the “love” object. However, he does not appear to be describing a depressed individual but another variation of masochistic suffering. The “need for punishment” of which Dr. Berliner speaks, which represents a “need for the love of the person who punishes,” is consistent with the psychology of the masochist but not with that of the depressive who often attempts to seduce the analyst to act out with him in the transference in such a manner as to continue with the analyst the sadomasochistic relationship.
The introjection of badness into the ego and projection of goodness from the ego is carried out via the mechanisms of introjective and projective identification respectively, wherein the subject (masochist) and the object (sadist) become joined psychically in a state of symbiotic fusion. This form of seeking “love” represents an intrusion into the object, an operation which i