[[Psychosis{{Toppp}}psychose]] (psychose) The term |-|| [[PsychosisGerman]] arose in psychiatry in the: ''[[Psychose{{Bottom}}
nineteenth century as [[Psychosis]] is a way nosological [[category]] distinct from [[neurosis]] and [[perversion]]. It is brought [[about]] by the [[foreclosure]] of a primordial [[signifier]], the [[Name-of designating mental illness in general-the-Father]]. During
FreudIn his seminar of 1955-56 ([[Seminar III|Seminar III, ''The Psychoses'']]), Lacan argues that there is a [[defense mechanism]] specific to [[psychosis]] on the grounds that the peculiarly invasive and devastating [[nature]] of psychotics'delusional systems and hallucinations indicates major [[structural]] differences between [[psychosis]] and [[neurosis]].<!--The term [[psychosis]] is used in many ways, but in general refers to [[people]] [[suffering]] from so-called [[schizophrenia]], with [[hallucination]]s and [[delusion]]s life; manic [[depression]]; various [[paranoia|paranoid states]]; and severe hypochondrial, [[obsessional neurosis|obsessional]], or [[narcissism|narcissistic states]]. The term "[[psychosis]]" is used in [[psychoanalysis]] to describe a basic distinction between ''severe [[mental]] disorder'', more serious than [[neurosis]], characterized by disorganized [[thought]] [[processes]], disorientation in [[time]] and [[space]], [[hallucination]]s, and [[delusion]]s. Types of [[psychosis]] include [[paranoia]], [[manic depression]], [[megalomania]], and [[schizophrenia]]. [[Psychosis]] has many different forms: [[paranoia]], [[schizophrenia]], and NEUROSIs came [[manic-depression]]. Common features are difficult to bedefine exactly, but psychoanalytically [[speaking]] one can see [[three]] broad features in psychotic patients:
generally accepted# A [[particular]] relation to reality# A special relation of the subject to his [[speech]];# A particular structure of the subject-->==Sigmund Freud==It is [[true]] that Freud had found that the [[discourse]] of the psychotic and the apparently bizarre and meaningless phenomena of psychosis could be deciphered and [[understood]], according just as [[dreams]] can. Freud's [[analysis]] of the psychotic [[Schreber]]'s memoirs thus broke with contemporary approaches to psychosis, which regarded psychotics as beyond the limits of [[Psychosisunderstanding]] designated extreme forms of(Freud, 1951).
mental illness However, as Lacan points out, the fact that the psychotic's discourse is just as interpretable as that of the neurotic leaves the two disorders at the same level and fails to account for the major differences between [[them]], thus the [[distinction]] between the two remains to be explained. It is around this issue of the different mechanisms in psychosis and neurosis denoted less serious disordersthat Lacan's major contribution to the study of psychosis revolves. This basic distinc-
tion between Freud claims that in both neurosis and psychosis there is a [[Psychosiswithdrawal]] was taken up of investment, or [[object]]-[[cathexis]], from [[objects]] in the [[world]]. In the [[case]] of neurosis the object-cathexis is retained, but is invested in fantasized objects in the neurotic's [[internal]] world. In the case of psychosis the withdrawn cathexis is invested in the ego at the expense of all object-[[cathexes]], even in [[fantasy]]. This turning of [[libido]] upon the ego accounts for [[symptoms]] such as [[hypochondria]] and megalomania. The delusional [[system]], the most striking feature of psychosis, arises in a second [[stage]]. Freud characterizes the [[construction]] of a delusional system as an attempt at recovery in which the psychotic re-establishes a new, often very intense, relation with the people and developed things in the world by Freudway of a delusional [[formation]].
himself ==Jacques Lacan=====History===[[Lacan]] discussed [[psychosis]] throughout his [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|work]]. His interest in several papers (e[[psychosis]] predates his interest in [[psychoanalysis]].g[[Jacques Lacan]] studied [[psychosis]] for his doctoral research about a [[woman]] he calls "[[Aimee]]. Freud"<ref>{{1932}}</ref> Indeed it was his doctoral research, 1924b which concerned a [[psychotic]] [[woman]] whom [[Lacan]] calls [[Aimée]] that first led [[Lacan]] to [[psychoanalytic theory]].<ref>{{1932}}</ref> It is common to compare [[Lacan]]'s tortured and at [[times]] almost incomprehensible style of [[writing]] and speaking to the discourse of [[psychotic]] [[patient]]s. [[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[psychosis]] are among the most significant and 1924e)original aspects of his [[work]]. [[Lacan]]'s most detailed [[discussion]] of [[psychosis]] appears in his [[seminar]] of 1955-6, entitled simply ''[[Seminar III|The Psychoses]]''. It is here that he expounds what come to be the main tenets of the [[Lacan]]ian approach to [[madness]].
Lacan'===Clinical Structure===[[Psychosis]] is defined as one of the three [[clinical structure]]s interest , one of which is defined by the operation of [[foreclosure]]. In this operation, the [[Name-of-the-Father]] is not integrated in the [[symbolic order|symbolic universe]] of the [[psychotic]] (it is "[[foreclosed]]"), with the result that a [[hole]] is [[left]] in the [[symbolic order]]. To [[speak]] of a [[lack|hole]] in the [[symbolic order]] is not to say that the [[psychotic]] does not have an [[unconscious]]; on the contrary, in [[Psychosispsychosis]] "the unconscious is [[present]] but not functioning."<ref>{{S3}} p. 208</ref> The [[psychotic]] [[structure]] thus results from a certain malfunction of the [[Oedipus complex]], a [[lack]] in the [[paternal function]] predates his interest ; more specifically, in psychoanalysis[[psychosis]] the [[paternal function]] is reduced to the [[image]] of the [[father]] (the [[symbolic]] is reduced to the [[imaginary]]). Indeed
it was ===The Psychotic Relation to Reality===In his doctoral researcharticles on [[psychosis]] [[Freud]] noted the [[psychotic]]'s altered relation to [[reality]]. The 'imaginary [[external]] world' of a psychosis attempts to put itself in [[place]] of the 'external world'. (In Lacanian [[terms]], which concerned a psychotic there are altered relations between [[the Imaginary]] and Real Orders, in parallel with an alteration in [[Womanthe Symbolic]] whom LacanOrder).
calls In studying [[psychosis]] Lacan stated, following [[Freud]], that "the problem lies not in the reality that is lost, but in that which takes its place."<ref>{{E}} p. 188-9</ref> Lacan emphasized the 'AimÈerent'or [[gap]] that appears in the relation of the psychotic subject to the world, and the nature of the 'patch' which the psychotic subject applies over this gap.<!-- ====Psychotic Phenomena==== --><!-- In [[Lacan]]ian [[psychoanalysis]] it is important to distinguish between [[psychosis]], which is a [[clinical structure]], and [[psychotic]] phenomena such as [[delusions]] and [[hallucinations]]. Two [[conditions]] are required for psychotic phenomena to emerge: the [[subject]] must have a [[psychotic]] [[structure]], and the [[Name-of-the-Father]] must be "called into symbolic opposition to the subject."<ref>{{E}} p. 217</ref> In the [[absence]] of the first condition, no confrontation with the paternal signifier will ever lead to psychotic phenomena; a [[neurotic]] can never "become psychotic."<ref>{{S3}} p. 15</ref> In the [[absence]] of the second condition, the [[psychotic]] [[structure]] will remain [[latent]]. It is thus conceivable that first led a [[subject]] may have a [[psychotic]] [[structure]] and yet never develop [[delusions]] or [[experience]] [[hallucination]]s. When both conditions are fulfilled, the [[psychosis]] is "triggered off," the latent [[psychosis]] becomes [[manifest]] in [[hallucination]]s and/or [[delusions]]. --><!-- ==[[Borromean Knot]]== --><!-- In the 1970s [[Lacan ]] reformulates his approach to psychoanalytic theory (see Lacan[[psychosis]] around the [[notion]] of the [[borromean knot]]. The three rings in the [[knot]] [[represent]] the three [[orders]]: the [[real]], the [[symbolic]] and the [[imaginary]]. While in [[neurosis]] these three rings are linked together in a particular way, 1932)in [[psychosis]] they become disentangled. This [[psychotic]] disassociation may sometimes however be avoided by a [[sinthome|symptomaatic formation]] which [[acts]] as a fourth ring holding the [[other]] three together.-->
It has often been remarked that ===Schreber===In his [[seminar]] on [[psychosis]] ([[{{Y}}|1955-6]]) [[Lacan]] tackled [[Freud]]'s debt case [[history]] of [[Judge Schreber]], a [[paranoid]] [[schizophrenic]] who wrote a fascinating account of his illnesss entitled ''Memoirs of My Nervous [[Illness]]'' (1903). Lacan's essay "On a question preliminary to any possible treatment of psychosis (1957-8)' enlarged on the [[ideas]] of this patient is reminiscent of[[seminar]].
===Treatment===[[Freud's debt ]] was skeptical about the possibility of practising [[psychoanalysis]] with [[psychotic]] [[patients]]. [[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]] in arguing that while [[psychosis]] is of great interest for [[psychoanalytic theory]], it is [[outside]] the field of the classical method of [[psychoanalytic treatment]], which is only appropriate for [[neurosis]]; "to use the [[technique]] that [[Freud]] established outside the experience to his first neurotic patients which it was applied (who were also femalei.e. neurosis)is as stupid as to toil at the oars when the ship is on the sand."<ref>{{E}} p. In other221</ref>
words<!-- Not only is the classical method of [[psychoanalytic treatment]] inappropriate for [[psychotic]] [[subject]]s, whereas but it is even contraindicated. For example [[Lacan]] points out that the technique of [[psychoanalysis]], which involves the use of the couch and [[free association]], can easily trigger off a latent [[psychosis]].<ref>{{S3}} p. 15</ref> This is the [[reason]] why [[Lacan]]ian [[analyst]]s usually follow [[Freud]]'s first recommendation to begin the [[treatment]] of a new [[patient]] with a series of face-to-face interviews.<ref>{{F}} p.1913c. [[SE]] XII. 123-4</ref> Only when the [[analyst]] is reasonably sure that the [[patient]] is not [[psychotic]] will the [[patient]] be asked to lie down on the couch and [[free association|free associate]]. -->This does not mean that Lacanian [[analysts]] do not work with [[psychotic]] [[patient]]s. On the contrary, much work has been done by [[Lacanian]] [[analyst]]s in the [[treatment]] of [[psychosis]]. However, the method of [[treatment]] differs substantially from that used with [[neurotic]] and [[perverse]] [[patient]]s. [[Lacan]] himself works with [[psychotic]] [[patient]]s but left very few comments on the technique he employed; rather than setting out a technical procedure for [[working]] with [[psychosis]], he limited himself to discussing the questions preliminary to any such work.<ref>{{L}} p. 1957-8b</ref><!-- [[Lacan]] rejects the approach of those who [[limit]] their analysis of [[psychosis]] to the unconscious [[imaginary order]]; "[[nothing]] is to be expected from the way psychosis is explored at the level of the [[imaginary]], since [[the imaginary]] [[mechanism]] is what gives psychotic [[alienation]] its [[form]], but not its dynamics."<ref>{{S3}} p. 146</ref> It is only by way focusing on the [[symbolic order]] that [[Lacan]] is able to point to the fundamental determining element of [[psychosis]], namely, the hole in the [[symbolic]] [[order]] caused by [[foreclosure]] and the consequent "imprisonment" of the psychotic subject in the imaginary. It is also this emphasis on the [[symbolic order]] which leads [[Lacan]] to [[value]] above all the [[linguistic]] phenomena in [[psychosis]]: "the importance given to language phenomena in psychosis is for us the msot fruitful lesson ofall."<ref>{{S3}} p. 144</ref> -->
neurosis, Lacan's first approach is via [[Psychosis]]. It has also been common===The Relation of the Subject to his Speech=== to compare Lacan's tortured and at times almost incomprehensible style of writing and speaking asserted that the failure to the discourse take account of psychotic patients. Whatever one are stabilized in the delusional metaphor' (E, 217). Another way relation of describing this is as 'a relationship between the subject and the signifier to his speech had resulted in its most formal dimension, in its dimension as a pure signifier' (S3, 250). This relationship of the subject failure to the signifier in its purely formal aspect constitutes 'the nucleus of [[Psychosisunderstand]]' (S3, 250). 'If the neurotic inhabits language, the psychotic is inhabited, possessed, by language' (S3, 250). Of all the various forms of [[Psychosis]], it iS [[Paranoia]] that most interests Lacan, while schizophrenia and manic-depressive [[Psychosis]] are rarely dis- cussed (see S3, 3-4). Lacan follows Freud in maintaining a structural distinc- tion between paranoia and schizophrenia. == def ==A mental condition whereby the patient completely loses touch with reality. Freud originally distinguished between neurosis and psychosis in the following way: “in neurosis the ego suppresses part of the id out of allegiance to reality, whereas in psychosis it lets itself be carried away by the id and detached from a part of reality” (5.202)phenomena.
<!-- ====Language Disorders==== -->
<!-- The [[language]] phenomena most notable in [[psychosis]] are ''disorders'' of [[language]], and [[Lacan]] argues that the [[presence]] of such disorders is a necessary condition for a diagnosis of [[psychosis]].<ref>{{S3}} p. 92</ref> Among the psychotic language disorders which Lacan draws attention to are holophrases and the extensive use of neologisms (which may be completely new [[words]] coined by the psychotic, or already existing words which the psychotic redefines).<ref>{{Ec}} p. 167</ref> In [[{{Y}}|1956]], [[Lacan]] attributes these [[language]] disorders to the [[psychotic]]'s [[lack]] of a sufficient [[number]] of ''[[points de capiton]]''. -->
<!-- The lack of sufficient ''[[points de capiton]]'' means that the psychotic experience is characterized by a constant [[slippage]] of the [[signified]] under the signifier, which is a disaster for [[signification]]; there is a continual "cascade of reshapings of the signifier fromw hich the increasing disaster of the imaginary proceeds, until the level is reached at which signifier and signified are stablized in the delusional [[metaphor]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 217</ref> [[Another]] way of describing this is as "a [[relationship]] between the subject and the signifier in its most [[formal]] [[dimension]], in its dimension as a pure signifier."<ref>{{S3}} p. 250</ref> This relationship of the subject to the signifier in its purely formal aspect constitutes "the nucleus of psychosis."<ref>{{S3}} p.250</ref> "If the neurotic inhabits language, the psychotic is inhabited, possessed, by language."<ref>{{S3}} p. 250</ref> -->
== References ==
<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">
<references/>
</div>
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Treatment]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
{{OK}}
[[Category:Practice]]
[[Category:Subject]]
__NOTOC__
