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The term "[[complex]]" occupies an important [[place ]] in [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]] before 1950, where it is closely related to the [[imago]].

Whereas the [[imago]] designates an [[imaginary]] stereotype relating to one person, the [[complex]] is a [[whole ]] constellation of interacting [[imago]]s; it is the [[internalization ]] of the [[subject]]'s earliest [[structure|social structure]]s (i.e. the relationships between the various actors in his [[family ]] [[environment]]).

In his pre-war [[work]], [[Lacan]] argues that it is because [[human]] [[psychology]] is based on the [[complex]]es, which are entirely [[cultural]] products, rather than on [[natural]] [[instinct]]s, that [[human]] [[behaviour]] cannot be explained by reference to [[biological]] givens.

Nevertheless, while drawing this [[explicit ]] contrast between [[complex]]es and [[instinct]]s, [[Lacan]] also recognizes that [[complex]]es may be compared to [[instinct]]s in that they make up for the [[instinct]]ual inadequacy (''insuffisance vitale'') of the [[human]] [[infant]], and argues that the [[complex]]es are propped on [[biological]] functions such as [[weaning]].<ref>{{1938}} p.32-3</ref>

In 1938 [[Lacan]] [[identifies ]] [[three ]] "[[family complexes]]," each of which is the trace of a "[[psychical ]] crisis" which accompanies a "[[life ]] crisis."

The first of these [[complex]]es is the [[weaning|weaning complex]] (''[[complexe du sevrage]]''). Taking up the [[idea ]] of a "trauma of weaning," first developed by René Laforgue in the 1920s, [[Lacan]] argues that no matter how late [[weaning]] occurs, it is always perceived by the [[infant]] as coming too early.

<blockquote>"Whether [[trauma]]tic or not, [[weaning]] leaves in the [[human]] [[psyche]] a permanent trace of the [[biological]] relation which it interrupts. This life crisis is in effect accompanied by a psychical crisis, without [[doubt ]] the first whose solution has a [[dialectic]]al [[structure]]."<ref>{{1938}} p.27</ref></blockquote>

After the [[weaning]] [[complex]] comes the [[intrusion complex]] (''[[complexe de l'intrusion]]''), which represents the [[experience ]] that the [[child]] has when he realizes that he has siblings. The [[child]] must then cope with the fact that he is no longer the exclusive [[object]] of his [[parents]]' attention.

The [[third ]] and final [[family complex]] is the [[Oedipus Complex]]. After their [[appearance ]] in the 1938 paper, the [[terms ]] "[[weaning complex]]" and "[[intrusion complex]]" [[disappear ]] almost completely from [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]]. However, the [[Oedipus complex]] remains a fundamental reference point throughout, and this is complemented by a growing interest, from 1956 on, in the [[castration complex]].