Death Instinct or Fear of Death? Research into the Problem of Death in Psychoanalysis*

Qui apprendroit les hommes à mourir

leur apprendroit à vivre.

(Michel de Montaigne, Essais)

The aim of this work is to underline:

• the presence of real anxiety about the inevitability of one's own death, “l'angoisse la plus vive et la plus lourde à supporter” (Jaccard 1971);

• that this anxiety has been to a great extent denied by psychoanalysis, through the use of different theories, one of which is the theory of death instinct.

Although my work is mostly theoretical, the hypotheses developed in it raise queries and are aimed at opening up an area of research for clinical practice and technique, especially as far as problems relating to the conclusion of psycho-analitical treatment are concerned.