Abstract
In an earlier article on Erik H. Erikson’s earliest writings (Capps, 2007), I focused on the relationship between the child’s melancholia and conflict with maternal authority, and drew attention to the restorative role of humor. In this article, I discuss two of the three chapters in part three, “The Growth of the Ego,” of Erikson’s first major book, Childhood and Society [Erikson, Childhood and society. New York: W. W. Norton, 1950, Childhood and society (rev. edition). New York: W. W. Norton, 1963]. I explore the same theme of the relationship of melancholia and the mother, but focus on the restorative role of play. I interpret the differences between the two cases in light of Sigmund Freud’s essay, “Mourning and Melancholia” [Freud, Mourning and melancholia. In S. Freud, General psychological theory (pp. 164–179). P. Rieff (ed.). New York: Collier Books. 1963].
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Notes
It is noteworthy that Erikson uses here the very words—“despair” and “disgust”—that he assigns to the eighth stage of the life cycle in his chapter, “Eight Stages of Man.” Integrity is the positive pole of the stage of old age, while despair and disgust are its negative pole. He notes that despair “expresses the feeling that time is short, too short for the attempt to start another life and to try out alternate routes to integrity,” and that disgust “hides despair” (p. 232). Thus, he is suggesting that the “schizophrenic” child already despairs of a life of “integrity,” the sense that life has order and meaning.
Sophie was expecting her third child when she died of influenza. Freud was completing Beyond the Pleasure Principle at the time (Gay, 1988, p. 391).
In the concluding paragraph of his discussion of children’s play, Freud reminds his reader that dramatic plays created by adults present the audience with the most painful experiences, but in such a way that they are felt to be highly enjoyable. This is “convincing proof that, even under the dominance of the pleasure principle, there are ways and means enough of making what is in itself un-pleasurable into a subject to be recollected and worked over in the mind” (p. 37).
References
Capps, D. (2007). Mother, melancholia, and humor in Erik H. Erikson’s earliest writings. Journal of Religion and Health.
Coles, R. (1970). Erik H. Erikson: The growth of his work. Boston: Little, Brown.
Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: W. W. Norton.
Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (rev. edition). New York: W. W. Norton.
Freud, S. (1958). A childhood recollection from “Dichtung und wahrheit.” In B. Nelson (Ed.), On creativity and the unconscious (pp. 111–121). New York: Harper & Row.
Freud, S. (1959). Beyond the pleasure principle. New York: Bantam Books.
Freud, S. (1963). Mourning and melancholia. In P. Rieff (Ed.), S. Freud, General psychological theory (pp. 164–179). New York: Collier Books.
Freud, S. (1965). The interpretation of dreams. New York: Avon Books.
Gay, P. (1988). Freud: A life for our time. New York: W. W. Norton.
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Donald Capps is Professor of Pastoral Psychology at Princeton Theological Seminary. His books include Men, Religion, and Melancholia (1997), Men and Their Religion: Honor, Hope, and Humor (2002), and Fragile Connections: Memoirs of Mental Illness for Pastoral Care Professionals (2005). He has served as editor of Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and as President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
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Capps, D. Mother, Melancholia, and Play in Erik H. Erikson’s Childhood and Society . J Relig Health 46, 591–606 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-007-9123-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-007-9123-4