ABSTRACT
The concept of antisocial tendency and deprivation are new terms introduced by Winnicott to psychoanalytic vocabulary. This chapter discusses that delinquency is only one of the possible consequences of antisocial tendency, one of its destinies. The organized antisocial tendency is overloaded with secondary gain. In fact what complicates things is that, in his texts, Winnicott himself goes from the idea of antisocial tendency to that of asocial act – and vice versa – without it seeming very clear to him. Privation denotes maladjustment of the environment at the stage of absolute dependence. Deprivation occurs at the stage of relative dependence. The antisocial child, often a hopeless case, always gets attention, whereas the mad child finds it very difficult to get proper attention. Indeed madness is not recognized in childhood by society and treatment for the mad child is often lacking unless the child can turn round into being antisocial.
