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The concept of [[adaptation]] is a [[biology|biological]] [[:category:concepts|concept]].
Organisms are supposed to be driven to [[adapt ]] themselves to fit the environment.
[[Adaptation]] implies a harmonious relation between the ''Innenwelt'' (inner world) and ''Umwelt'' (surrounding world).
==Ego-Psychologypsychology==[[Ego-Psychologypsychology]] applies the [[biological]] concept of [[adaptation]] to [[psychoanalysis]]., explaining [[neurotic]] [[symptom]]s in terms of [[maladaptive]] [[behavior]] (such as applying archaic defense mechanisms in contexts where they are no longer appropriate) and arguing that the aim of [[psychoanalytic treatment]] is to help the [[patient]] [[adapt]] to [[reality]].
[[Ego-Psychologypsychology]] explain [[neurotic]] [[symptom]]s in terms of maladaptive [[behaviour]].
[[Ego-Psychologypsychology]] argues that the aim of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is to help the [[patient]] adapt to [[reality]].
== Jacques Lacan==
From his early work in the 1930s on, [[Lacan]] opposes any attempt to explain human phenomena in terms of [[adaptation]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.158; {{Ec}} p.171-2</ref>
He takes this view for several reasons:
===One===
The stress on the adaptive function of the [[ego]] misses the [[ego]]'s [[alienating]] function and is based on a simplistic and unproblematic view of '[[reality]]'.
The task of [[psychoanalysis]] is rather to subvert the [[illusory]] sense of [[adaptation]], since this blocks access to the [[unconscious]].
===Two===
To set [[adaptation]] as the [[aim]] of the [[treatment]] is to turn the [[analyst]] into the arbiter of the [[patient]]'s [[adaptation]].
[[reality]] onto the [[patient]]; this is not [[psychoanalysis]] but [[suggestion]].
===Three===
The idea of [[harmony]] between the organism and its environment, implicit in the concept of [[adaptation]], is inapplicable to human beings because man's inscription in the [[symbolic]] [[order]] de-naturalises him and means that 'in man the [[imaginary]] relation [to nature] has deviated'.
Any attempt to regain [[harmony]] with [[nature]] overlooks the essentially excessive [[drive]] potential summed up in the [[death drive]].
Human beings are essentially [[maladaptive]].
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[[Lacan]] argues that the stress put by [[ego-psychology]] on the [[adaptation]] of the [[patient]] to [[reality]] reduces [[psychoanalysis]] to an instrument of social control and conformity.
He sees this as a complete betrayal of [[psychoanalysis]], which he regards as an essentially subversive [[practice]].
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