Henri Maldiney and the melancholic complaint: The performance of a cry

Henri Maldiney offers an evocative analysis of melancholia. He characterizes the melancholic complaint as the only form of action left to the melancholic patient. It is a last stand against a nothingness that threatens to overwhelm. His philosophy directly engages with the psychotic experience, as presented in clinical cases put forth by Binswanger, Kuhn and others. His approach to melancholia does not reduce this experience to one we can easily empathize with. By tracing his steps and elaborating on his work, I aim to clarify why the complaint is so crucial for the melancholic and why listening to the melancholic's complaint can be so challenging. The complaint appears as the melancholic's stilted answer to a devastating event. The deadly repetition and pulsing chant of the complaint might not bring deliverance, but it can offer protection against destruction. Maldiney directs our attention to the act of complaining and how it is ultimately the performance of a cry. With this cry the melancholic patient tries to regain a place in the world from where he can exist