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{{Top}}détresse]]''; [[German]]: ''[[Hilflosigkeit{{Bottom}}
==Human Infant==
The term '"[[helplessness]]' " is used in [[psychoanalysis]] to denote the state of the newborn [[infant]] who is incapable of carrying out the specific [[action]]s required to [[satisfy]] its own [[need]]s, and so is completely dependent on other people (especially the [[mother]]).
===Prematurity of Birth===
The [[helplessness]] of the [[human]] [[infant]] is grounded in its "prematurity" of birth, a fact which was pointed out by [[Freud]] and which [[Lacan]] takes up in his early writings.
Compared to other animals [[animal]]s such as apes, the [[human]] [[infant]] is relatively unformed when it is born, especially with respect to motor coordination.
This means that it is more dependent than other animals[[animal]]s, and for a longer time, on its parents.
[[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]] in highlighting the importance of the initial dependence of the [[human]] [[infant]] on the [[mother]].
[[Lacan]]'s originality lies in the way he draws attention to "the fact that this dependence is maintained by a world of [[language]].<ref>{{E}} p.309</ref>
The [[mother]] [[interpret]]s the [[infant]]'s cries as hunger, tiredness, loneliness, etc. and retroactively determines their [[meaning]] (see [[punctuation]]).
The [[child]]'s [[helplessness]] contrasts with the omnipotence of the [[mother]], who can decide whether or not to [[satisfy]] the [[child]]'s [[need]]s.<ref>{{S4}} p.69, 185</ref> (The recognition of this contrast engenders a depressive effect in the [[child]].<ref>{{S4}} p.186</ref>)
The recognition of this contrast engenders a depressive effect in the [[child]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 186</ref>
==Psychoanalytic Treatment==
[[Lacan]] also uses the concept of [[helplessness]] to illustrate the sense of abandonment and [[subjective destitution]] that the [[analysand]] feels at the [[end of analysis]].
<blockquote>"At the end of a [[training]] [[analysis]] the [[subject]] should reach and know the domain and level of the experience of absolute disarray."<ref>{{S7}} p.304</ref></blockquote>
The [[end of analysis]] is not conceived of by [[Lacan]] as the realization of some blissful plenitude, but quite the contrary, as a moment when the [[subject]] comes to terms with his utter solitude.
However, whereas the [[infant]] can rely on its [[mother]]'s [[help]], the [[analysand]] at the [[end of analysis]] "can expect [[help]] from no one."<ref>{{S7}} p.304</ref>
If this seems to present a particularly ascetic view of [[psychoanalytic treatment]], this is exactly how [[Lacan]] wishes it to be seen; [[psychoanalysis]] is, in [[Lacan]]'s words, a "long subjective acesis."<ref>{{E}} p.105</ref>
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Anxiety]]
* [[Development]]
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* [[End of analysis]]
* [[Illusion]]
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* [[Language]]
* [[Mother]]
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* [[Need]]
* [[Thing]]
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* [[Trauma]]
* [[Treatment]]
{{Also}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:New]]
[[Category:Imaginary]]
{{OK}}
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