Abstract

This paper is a deliberation on the story Psychosis Neurosis based on the personal experience and use of several different theoretical concepts in an attempt to understand some aspects of the psychotherapeutic treatment of a patient unknown to this author. Therefore, the author decided not to give a specific diagnosis, but to offer a personal experience of the patient’s personality structure instead. In such context, the patient seems to have a borderline organization, and the complexity of the psychopathology of this type of patient is described, as well as the importance of projective identification in working with borderline patients. Given that the author of this paper considers the patient’s story (also) to be an expression of gifting, a concise account of the counterpoint in which Melanie Klein places gratitude and envy is presented, as are some contemporary reflections on the subject that can contribute to a more complete understanding of the story.