In a paper in 1929, Ferenczi revealed his discovery that the rejection of a foetus or infant by its mother entails the consequence that maternal love and care do not restrain the actual and subsequent destructive effects of the death instinct. This discovery was founded on his experience of psychoanalytic therapy and, in my opinion, his personal experiences. According to Ferenczi, results include character disorders, psychosomatic illnesses and suicidal impulses. In my opinion the abstract concept of the death instinct does not constitute an essential component of this correlation.