[Deliquency: an alternative to melancholy]

The authors by illustrating three cases of deviant behaviour (of which two followed up in psychotherapy), and referring to the figure of the "criminal urged by a sense of guilt" described by Freud, declare that criminality may represent an alternative to melancholy. They also state that the antisocial behaviour is the most economical "solution" for the subject possessed by the sense of guilt originated by the Super-Ego for the unconscious ambivalence conflicts towards the parental figures. In fact, perpetrating a crime the delinquent is punished for a crime whose importance is lower than those conceived by their fantasy (incest, parricide) by a tribunal that does not apply the lex talionis, unlike the Super-Ego. The authors finally point out that criminality not always represents the "solution" of a neurotic conflict and this is due to the fact that the "choice" is also dependent upon the socio-economic conditions of the various subjects.