The Work of the Negative Author:Andre Green Andre Green draws our attention to the work of the negative in Freud, examining aspects which are not normally associated with it: dream work, the work of mourning, identification etc. From the clinical point of view, it can be said that the Freudian development ranges from neurosis as the "negative of perversion", to the masochism which underli... more »es the "negative therapeutic reaction" reflecting the pessimism of the final years, but whose mystery is unravelled to some extent when one recognises in it the style which is peculiar to non neurotic structures i.e. borderline cases. The kernel of Green's argument is that the development of the ego and any experiencing of ourselves as "subject" has to be achieved against an essential background of loss and absence. The phrase "work of the negative" refers to how we do or do not cope with this inevitability of lacking what we want.« less