CRITICA

In this editorial, I attempt to establish a connection between wordless states of the mind and the concept of mourning in the work of Sigmund Freud. Due to limitations of space, I will not review the vast literature on mourning and melancholia. Instead, I will focus on a series of letters exchanged between Freud and Ludwig Binswanger, which provide a more personal and nuanced understanding of mourning.

I would like to thank Daniel Benveniste for his assistance in locating these letters, which are central to the present discussion.

In addition, this editorial aims to explore the notion of wordless states in contemporary culture and to reflect on the meaning of mourning within psychoanalytic institutions.

Part I:
The World and Ourselves

We are currently living in a world that appears increasingly chaotic, unstable, and threatening. In *Edge of Catastrophe: Erich Fromm, Fascism and the Holocaust* (2024), Roger Frie traces the work of Erich Fromm within the context of German history and the traumas of war. From another perspective, Veneziani an Italian philosopher evokes the metaphor of *“La Cappa”*—a suffocating “hood” that renders individuals unaware of reality, inhibiting both thought and speech. This condition may be understood as a form of psychic, wordless retreat, in which individuals exist in a fog-like, almost robotic state.

Similarly, Adam Phillips, in his recent work, emphasizes a pathological condition of the mind in which individuals are unable to experience enjoyment. Life, in such a state, is no longer something to be lived, but something to be endured.

Amid these conditions, there has been a notable shift in psychoanalytic literature toward greater engagement with social and political realities. Psychoanalysis, in this sense, has become more responsive and alive. The social and political dimensions of life profoundly shape psychic experience. Many individuals today experience anxiety about the future, often to the extent that sleep itself is disturbed.

In such a catastrophic world, we may find ourselves in a wordless state. This wordlessness emerges from trauma and from the multiplicity of losses that characterize contemporary existence. Loss, in its essence, gives rise to mourning. But what, precisely, is mourning?

Freud on Mourning

A brief return to Freud may help clarify these complex psychic states. In his seminal 1917 essay Mourning and Melancholia, Freud conceptualizes mourning as a response to the loss of a loved person or an ideal. Mourning is conscious in nature; it involves the painful process of acknowledging the loss and gradually re-engaging with the world.

Melancholia, by contrast, represents a more severe and pathological condition, often involving unconscious processes and, at times, psychotic features. Freud’s account of melancholia is both profound and difficult to summarize fully within the scope of this editorial.

Further insight into Freud’s understanding of mourning can be gained through his correspondence with Carl Jung and Binswanger. These letters reveal Freud not only as a theorist but also as a man grappling with personal loss.

Wordless States and Early Psychoanalytic Thought

In a letter dated March 2, 1910, Jung reflects on the distinction between two modes of thought: logical thinking, which is verbal and directed outward, and analogical or fantasy thinking, which is emotionally charged, pictorial, and fundamentally wordless. This distinction anticipates later psychoanalytic theories that emphasize non-verbal and pre-symbolic dimensions of experience.

One might ask whether these wordless states correspond to aspects of the mind that have not yet become fully alive or symbolized. Such reflections resonate with later developments in psychoanalysis, particularly in the work of Wilfred Bion and Donald Winnicott, who explored the unknown, the unsymbolized, and the catastrophic dimensions of psychic life.

Freud’s Personal Mourning

Freud’s letters to Binswanger provide a deeply personal account of mourning. Following the death of his daughter Sophie in 1920, Freud describes a profound and enduring grief that affected both his emotional life and his capacity to work.

In a later letter (1926), written after Binswanger lost his young son, Freud reflects on his own experiences of loss, including the death of his grandson. He writes of a diminished capacity for enjoyment, suggesting a movement between mourning and melancholia.

By 1929, Freud articulated a more developed view: although the acute pain of mourning may subside, the loss itself remains irreparable. One remains, in a sense, inconsolable. Importantly, Freud suggests that this enduring attachment is not pathological but necessary—it is the means by which love is preserved.

This raises a crucial question: why can we not relinquish the lost object? Perhaps the answer lies in the depth of our attachments. Love, once formed, cannot simply be extinguished.

Mourning and Philosophy

This perspective finds resonance in the work of Jacques Derrida, particularly in *The Work of Mourning (2001). Derrida reflects on the inevitability of loss within friendship, suggesting that one friend must always precede the other in death. Mourning, therefore, is inscribed within the very structure of human relationships. To love is, inevitably, to mourn.

Similarly, Jonathan Lear emphasizes that mourning is not merely an episodic response to loss but a fundamental aspect of human existence. As beings capable of attachment—to persons, ideas, and works of art—we are inherently vulnerable. When these attachments are broken, mourning becomes both necessary and transformative.

Conclusion

Psychoanalytic institutions, I would argue, bear a responsibility to preserve the legacies of those who have contributed to their intellectual and clinical traditions. The creation of archives may serve as a form of collective mourning, ensuring that the memory of deceased analysts continues to inform future generations.

Mourning, as Freud suggests in his letters, is not an easy task; indeed, it may be interminable. It is through mourning that we sustain our bonds with those we have lost.

This editorial is dedicated to Paolo Iacobelli, my dear friend who recently passed away in Italy, and to colleagues who are no longer with us. Their presence endures in our memory and in our work.

Perhaps mourning itself is a wordless state—an experience that emerges from the loss of those we love and resists full articulation.

In reflecting on the authors discussed here, one might further consider whether wordless states of mind also signify a broader loss: a loss of humanity, of connection, and of meaning in our contemporary world.

References

Benjamin, F, Y.( 2026) Interview with Jonathan Lear. In Granta Magazine, n. 174. p.287-298.
Derrida, J. (2001). The Work of Mourning. Edited by P.-A. Brault and M. Naas. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
Frie, R. ( 2024) Edge of Catastrophe : Eric Fromm, Fascism, and the Holocaust. Oxford University Press, New York.
Fichtner, G ( 2001)The Freud-Binswanger Correspondence. Other Press, New York.
McGuire, W  (1974 ) The Freud/Jung Letters. Bollingern XCIV. PRINCESTON UNIVERSITIES PRESS. Princeton. New Jersey.
Veneziani, M. ( 2022) ,La Cappa. Per una crtica del presente. Feltrinelli. Milano