To discuss the paradigm of melancholy in hysteria.

case report of M., a 45 year-old woman, who is under psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment at the General Hospital of the University of Campinas (HC Unicamp).

K. is a 45 year-old divorced mother and former teacher, who started psychotherapy and psychiatric treatment at HC Unicamp in 2007, two years after the death of her father.Since such loss,K. made several violent suicide attempts: she jumped from the balcony of her apartment, took an overdose of medications, and set fire to her body in front of the mirror, which caused permanent scars. During both the psychotherapy sessions and the psychiatric consultations, K. frequently expressed how her life had lost its meaning after the death of her father. She mentioned she was no longer able to love and had no reason to continue living. She also complained about her ex-husband, from whom she was divorced after being betrayed, and about her children, who did not give her, according to her point of view, enough attention and care.

The patient is inside a typical hysterical scene, a “spectacle” composed by dramatic acts against her life. However, it is undeniable her identification with the lost object, her father. By setting fire to her own body in front of the mirror, she shows a melancholic kind of satisfaction with the pain, caused by a massive and destructive narcissism turned against herself.