‘A FONDNESS FOR BEING SAD’: SOME PORTUGUESE SOURCES FOR ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING’S POETICS OF MELANCHOLY IN SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE (1850)

In seeing melancholy as the antithesis of poetic creativity, the Victorians often broke with the traditional Renaissance and Romantic attitudes of equating melancholy moods with artistic or poetic genius. This article proposes to explore how, initially viewed as an emotional and ‘depressed’ woman poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning tried to resist and escape the sickening disempowerment or abandonment which had affected poets such as Felicia Hemans and Letitia Landon, and engage in a new poetics of melancholy in Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850). It demonstrates how the poet plays this poetics out in most of her later sonnets, where she indeed attempts to prove that good poetry can be written without melancholy, even if she herself does not always succeed in this deliberate rejection of ‘dejection’. The article thus intends to suggest, through a brief comparative analysis, that her apparently contradictory poetics of melancholy very probably derived from a specifically Portuguese poetic tradition, namely the ‘fondness for being sad’ of Luís de Camões, as well as the sorrowful love of Mariana Alcoforado’s epistles (1669) and of Soror Maria do Céu’s mannerist poems, an influence that is supported in the great similarity of motives and language that can be found in the respective texts.

Melancholia and the Real of the Illusion

This chapter explores Lars von Trier’s 2012 film, Melancholia, which tells the story of a profoundly depressed woman on the brink of the apocalypse. The film ends with its main characters huddled in terror as Earth is destroyed via a collision with rogue planet, Melancholia. It examines the film in terms of von Trier’s surprising statement that Melancholia contains the “happiest ending he’s ever made” and Slavoj Žižek’s declaration of Melancholia as a “profoundly optimistic” film. This chapter makes sense of these comments by arguing that the film offers insight into ways of living ethically in the face of utter loss. Such a possibility requires embracing the constitutive power of illusion.

Persistent Depressive Disorder/Dysthymia

This chapter describes the adaptation of IPT for the treatment of patients with persistent depressive disorder/dysthymia. The usual IPT model connects a recent event in the patient’s life with current mood and symptoms, but for patients who have been depressed for years, this model makes less sense. Instead, the IPT therapist makes the treatment itself a role transition from longstanding depression to euthymia in which patients learn to recognize depressive symptoms of long duration and how they have affected their social functioning. The therapist offers a formulation that shifts the blame for the patient’s situation from the patient to the illness. Treatment includes sixteen weekly sessions to drive these points home, although monthly continuation sessions and maintenance therapy are frequently offered so that patients’ new self-image and track record of healthy interpersonal functioning can sink in. A case example is given of a chronically depressed woman who improves with IPT.

Reparation in Respect of Mother’s Organized Defence Against Depression

In this paper Winnicott discusses how false reparation can appear through a patient’s identification with the mother, where the dominating factor is the mother’s organized defence against depression and unconscious guilt. He states that the attainment of a capacity for making reparation in respect of personal guilt is one of the most important steps in the development of the healthy human being. While Winnicott’s experience tells him that a children’s out-patient department demonstrates the extent of hypochondria in mothers, he admits that there is no sharp dividing line between the hypochondria of a depressed woman and a mother’s genuine concern for her child. The task for the child is to deal with the parent’s mood, after which they can start their own lives. Winnicott discusses the task of the analyst with this sort of patient to not be experienced as depressed - and notes the importance of this relationship between the patient and the environmental mood in group work.

California rocket fuel: And what about being a first line treatment?

IntroductionThe association venlafaxine-mirtazapine is currently known as California Rocket Fuel (CRF). Studies show advantage in terms of efficacy and rapid control of depressive symptoms compared to other associations. Venlafaxine is a selective serotonin-noradrenalin reuptake inhibitor and mirtazapine is a noradrenergic-specific serotonergic antidepressant: the result is a potent noradrenergic and serotonergic effect. Studies say that CRF should be performed only for drug-resistant depression; however, there are case reports of its use as a first line treatment, in selected patients.ObjectivesTo summarize the latest literature about this field and to present a case report.AimTo explore and critically review the controversies of venlafaxine-mirtazapine association as a first line antidepressants strategy.MethodsA brief review of the latest literature was performed, using PubMed and the keywords “venlafaxine-mirtazapine association”. A case report about a depressed woman is presented.ResultsDespite most studies are referent to its utility in drug-resistant depression, there are recent pilot studies that recommend CRF as a first line option.M., a 64-year-old woman, had her first psychiatric consultation. She had been depressed for 2 years, she lost 10 kg, had total insomnia and suicidal thoughts. CRF was started up to 150/15 mg, daily. An improvement was noticed after two weeks of treatment and the stabilization of depressive symptoms were achieved by the fourth month.ConclusionsCRF seems to be effective and useful. Patients with insomnia and weight loss may benefit from CRF as a first line option. However, more studies are needed.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.