Biomaterial Database

Passion, Desire, Perversion: Love and Death in Psychoanalysis. 2019

Karen L Lombardi

10 Beech Court, Glen Cove, NY 11542. E-mail: karenlombardiphd@gmail.com.

This paper contrasts full passion with what I am calling empty passion. As examples of full passion, Melanie Klein's lovehate, Kristeva's maternal passion, Žižek's political passion, and the passion of friendship are discussed in relation to empty passion, a narcissistic desire to fill a lack or a hole at the center of being. This empty passion is related to the Lacanian demand to serve or to become the desire of the Other and to André Green's concept of the psychic dilemma of the Dead Mother. Clinical and literary examples of empty passion are provided as illustrations.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008149	Love	Affection; in psychiatry commonly refers to pleasure, particularly as it applies to gratifying experiences between individuals.	Loves
D008398	Masochism	Pleasure derived from being physically or psychologically abused, whether inflicted by oneself or by others. Masochism includes sexual masochism.	Sexual Masochism,Masochism, Sexual,Masochisms,Masochisms, Sexual,Sexual Masochisms
D009289	Narcissism	A psychoanalytic term meaning self-love.	Narcissisms
D011572	Psychoanalysis	The separation or resolution of the psyche into its constituent elements. The term has two separate meanings: 1. a procedure devised by Sigmund Freud, for investigating mental processes by means of free association, dream interpretation and interpretation of resistance and transference manifestations; and 2. a theory of psychology developed by Freud from his clinical experience with hysterical patients. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996).	Psychodynamic Analysis,Analyses, Psychodynamic,Analysis, Psychodynamic,Psychodynamic Analyses
D011574	Psychoanalytic Theory	Conceptual system developed by Freud and his followers in which unconscious motivations are considered to shape normal and abnormal personality development and behavior.	Oral Character,Psychoanalytical Theory,Theory, Psychoanalytic,Character, Oral,Characters, Oral,Oral Characters,Psychoanalytic Theories,Psychoanalytical Theories,Theories, Psychoanalytic,Theories, Psychoanalytical,Theory, Psychoanalytical
D003643	Death	Irreversible cessation of all bodily functions, manifested by absence of spontaneous breathing and total loss of cardiovascular and cerebral functions.	End Of Life,End-Of-Life,Near-Death Experience,Cardiac Death,Determination of Death,Death, Cardiac
D006252	Hate	An enduring attitude or sentiment toward persons or objects manifested by anger, aversion and desire for the misfortune of others.	Hates
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man