This book contains psychoanalytic contributions to an understanding of depression. The editor propounds the basic theoretical formulations, as developed by Abraham and by Freud. He then describes the further development and modifications of the theory of depression by Rado, Fenichel, Bibring and Melanie Klein. The third section of the book deals with the status of the psychoanalytic theory of depression in contemporary practice and research. Reprinted are papers by Spitz, Bowlby, Lorand, Edith Jacobson and Sidney Levine. The editor‘s introductory and concluding chapters on the meaning of despair add a particular viewpoint as this is related to the psychoanalytic theory and treatment of depression.