ABSTRACT
In his obituary, Ernest Jones wrote: in his still later writings Sandor Ferenczi showed unmistakable signs of mental regression in his attitude towards fundamental problems of psycho-analysis. As Jones put it, he had followed Ferenczi's "pathological evolution" for years, till the "denouement" occurred. Two elements here have to be stressed. First, Jones was convinced of Ferenczi's "mental regression" before, independently of the neurological symptoms that appeared in the last two months of Ferenczi's illness, characteristic of organic brain disease. Second, the belief in Ferenczi's "mental regression" was shared by a group of people, to which Freud belonged as well. Jones declared that Ferenczi had "delusions about Freud's supposed hostility", that his illness "exacerbated his latent psychotic trends", that "the mental disturbances had been making rapid progress in the last few months", finally culminating in "violent paranoic and even homicidal outbursts, which were followed by a sudden death".
