title: Vesaas's The Birds and a patient's history elucidated by means of the theory of object relations and the death instinct.
abstract: The psychoanalytical theories of object relations may elucidate both patient histories and fictional characters in literature. In this article I apply the notions of paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, projective identification, symbolization, communication, and death and life instincts in my understanding of the main character Mattis in Vesaas's The Birds and, furthermore, in referring to one of my patients. Some literary theory is compared with the theoretical issues mentioned above. Comparing Mattis and my patient, I find both differences and similarities. The two men are both disabled, albeit to different extents, and they are quite aware of this. To be observant of suicidality in these patients seems important to me as a clinician, and I find the theory of the death instinct valuable in evaluations concerning these matters. I also find The Birds to be of importance in the understanding of patients and humanity in general.
authors.affiliation: Chief Psychiatrist. Outpatient Department of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, NO-5021 Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Torvanger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology