ABSTRACT
Depression features throughout Winnicott's work, and is not solely viewed as pathological but also as healthy, as part of normal development and functioning. The chapter explores Winnicott's idea that the depressed patient needs the analyst to be aware that he is dealing with his own depression. In Winnicott's terms, this means reviving the relationship with the introjected dead object, the analyst's depressed mother. Winnicott identifies an intergenerational origin and structure in depression. Treatment depends on the analyst's aliveness, which involves loaning his own psychic-soma integrity to the patient, acting as a transitional phenomenon while the patient develops a capacity to function unaided. The arduous nature of this work is illustrated with clinical material.
