ABSTRACT
There is a very malignant type of self-destructiveness, which we see in a small group of our patients and which is, I think, in the nature of an addiction–an addiction to near-death. It dominates these patients’ lives; for long periods it dominates the way they bring material to the analysis and the type of relationship they establish with the analyst; it dominates their internal relationships, their so-called thinking, and the way they communicate with themselves. It is not a drive towards a Nirvana type of peace or relief from problems, and it has to be sharply differentiated from this.
