“Yo Soy La DesintegracióN”: Helplessness and Sublimation Through Frida Kahlo's History

Abstract

Considering the relevance of studying the pathologies of emptiness for contemporaneous clinic, this work approaches the correlation between helplessness and sublimation concepts. Helplessness is considered a new theory, developed by David Maldavsky that uses the term desvalimiento to define a clinical condition described by the feeling of emptiness. To understand this concept, it is necessary to return to a primitive period, when the baby is beginning to qualify his affections. Thus, using historical construction, we start at Freud's works (focusing in the primitive period and the affections qualification), explore the “good-enough mother” importance, from Winnicott, and reaching the helplessness from the present-days Maldavsky's studies. The Frida Kahlo's history illustrates this work as much because of her toxic current as because of her talent to sublimate. The maternal failure, the toxic relationships, the trauma's imposition, the abuse of alcohol and drugs and the viscosity denounce her helplessness. Nevertheless, the art expresses her fight for life. The Frida Kahlo's works represent her suffering, but they also are her attempts to understand her feelings and to reframe her traumatic events. Therefore, we introduce the sublimation as an alternative to the helplessness. Although helplessness is the lack of the symbolic life, we present the art as an opportunity to confront experiences, which can allow the representation of the traumas and the qualification of affections. Through the sublimation, Frida Kahlo recreated her inner world and returned to life.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.