Abstract:
The interest in Sabina Spielrein has increased during the last decades, although, in specialized literature, her theoretical contributions to psychoanalysis still remain in the background if compared with the interest in her biography. The objective of this article is to present some of Spielrein’s ideas on the mental functioning which were mainly based on her analysis of schizophrenia and to discuss how, starting from these hypotheses, she conceives the processes involved in symbolism and artistic creation. This discussion is based on her 1911 dissertation on schizophrenia and on her 1912 paper Destruction as cause of come-into-being.
Key-words:
Psychoanalysis; Sabina Spielrein; schizophrenia; symbolism; artistic creation