[Burning mouth syndromes and depression. A psychoanalytic approach]

1. Analytical approaches to Burning Mouth Syndrome permit the suggestion that it is a symptom of hidden depression, where the depressive process and its two major indicators (vital sadness and psycho-motor slowing down) are totally or partially concealed by a somatic symptomatology which can strike down any system: vaso-vegetative, cardio-vascular, gastro-intestinal, genito-urinary, muscles and skeleton. 2. Depression is a mental process, part of normal psychic development, which must be overcome at least once in a lifetime in order to reach the status of an autonomous being. Hidden depression is one form of pathological depression, which expresses an inability to (i) mentalize depression, separation, and (ii) become an autonomous being. 3. Burning mouth is a symptom resulting from complex dynamics, from hysterical conversion to the inability to mentalize separation, both with underlying fault in the "narcissistic nucleus" (a term meaning the sense of identity originating in the motherly holding, in the skin to skin touch). 4. Treatment will be a combination of anti-depressive drugs and psychotherapy, drugs being prescribed by the practitioner, and psychotherapy conducted by a therapist with an analytical background.