THE WINNICOTTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUICIDAL ACT AND INTENTION:

DEFENDING AND RESTARTING

Authors

  • Leopoldo Fulgencio Universidade de São Paulo / Professor Associado / Instituto de Psicologia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9563.2022v28p39-61

Keywords:

Suicide, Meaning, Illusion, Aggressiveness, Winnicott

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine some descriptive aspects of the act of suicide and suicidal ideation and show the way in which Winnicott would understand this act. Among the different meanings that it can have for the individual, either as a defense against the unbearable anxieties directed at oneself or someone else or, further, as a secondary effect of a risky action that ends with death. I will highlight one sense, rarely touched upon, which is to consider that certain suicidal acts are an attempt to start over again, as if this was possible. In these cases, the suicidal act would correspond to an act of the false self, believing that there would not be any other chance that the true self is not annihilated in its relations with the world. This
analysis aims ultimately at offering to the clinician an understanding that can help him know effectively what to say on the meaning of suicide when this possibility is an issue in the analytical work. This type of analysis is part of the development of an ethics of psychoanalytic care within the epistemological and methodological framework of Winnicott’s thinking.

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Published

2022-01-12

Issue

Section

Artigos / Articles / Artículos