ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights various consequences of the condition of “psychic death” which had characterized M’s analytic history, concentrating on several implications which the fallout of that aspect of the condition concerning “not feeling oneself existent in relation to the other” can have for the analyst. The abandonment of the pursuit of basic needs and consequent desertion of any kind of bond and conscious feelings in those who fall into a state of “psychic death” originate as survival technique, adopted in the face of the poverty or inadequacy of emotive interaction. A shared journey towards growth and transformation is therefore necessary, also because the therapeutic quid which the patients suffering from “psychic death” need and, despite their terrifying behaviour. The analyst when faced with psychic death, desires to stay alive and hopes for his patient to live and become alive, but the problem is non-existence.
