ABSTRACT
The depressive position has been defined by Melanie Klein as that phase of development in which the infant recognizes a whole object and relates himself to this object. In the depressive position, introjective processes are intensified. This is partly due to the lessening of projective mechanisms and partly to the infant’s discovery of his dependence on his object which he now perceives as independent and liable to go away. The depressive position begins in the oral phase of development, when love and need lead to devouring. The whole relationship to objects alters as the depressive position is gradually worked through. The infant acquires the capacity to love and respect people as separate, differentiated individuals. The pain of mourning experienced in the depressive position, and the reparative drives developed to restore the loved internal and external objects, are the basis of creativity and sublimation. In the depressive position, then, the whole climate of thought changes.
