title: [The discovery of the bad mother: Abraham's contribution to the theory of depression].
abstract: The origins of the psychoanalytic theory of depression will be discussed. First, it will be shown that in the 1890s Freud was intensely concerned with the problem of depression, but reached no firm conclusions about it. Then, the work of Freud and the first generation of his students on the aetiology of depression just after the turn of the century will be discussed. Following that, Abraham's first contribution to the theory of depression will be summarised. Abraham's concept of the bad mother was a new development in contrast to Freud's oedipal mother. Finally, it will be argued that the concept of the bad mother is the point of departure for development in psycho-analytic theory which focused on the socalled preoedipal mother and paved the way for the Kleinian school.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: May-Tolzmann
mesh_terms: D003863:Depression / Q000266:history*; D005060:Europe; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers / Q000266:history*; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory
vernacular_title: Die Entdeckung der bösen Mutter: ein Beitrag Abrahams zur Theorie der Depression.