Abstract

Within Freud’s analysis of the Schreber case, the delusion of the end of the world is of great significance. Schreber’s delusion is considered to be a linear representation of the mechanism of repression proper which predominates in paranoia and is common to psychosis. In the second half of the twentieth century, Dutch psychoanalyst Maurits Katan developed an original theory of psychosis. His discovery of the prepsychotic phase and the differentiation between non-psychotic and psychotic part of the personality, provide a new insight into Schreber’s delusion and the understanding of the processes underlying it.