par Matot, Jean-Paul
Référence Cahiers de psychologie clinique, 22, 1, page (29-54)
Publication Publié, 2004-01
Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : Following Freud's and Winnicott's works, cruelty is considered as the violent breaking exerted by the baby on his mother in the field of developmental self-preservation and mastery, regardless mother's suffering. We discuss the importance of baby'sprimalmasochismand mother'sfeminine masochism in the transformation of cruelty and forming an psychic envelope, linked, following D. Anzieu, to the skin functions. The failing of the Ego-skin determines the specific pathological shapes of cruelty. Two emblematic figures of cruelty illustrate this field : Cruella in "The Hundred and One Dalmatians", and the serial killer of "The silence of the lambs". These romantic murderous forms make it obvious that cruelty should be distinguished from sadism regarding its purely narcissistic goal which blocks the subjectivisation process. The nazi's camps "experiments" confirm the potential reality of such extremes. A short clinical illustration shows the links between cruelty and two different masochist forms, whose effects on narcissism leads to differenciate a primary defensive perverse masochist " antinarcissistic" organisation, from the classical masochist perversion.