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MOTHER-CHILD RELATION
In [[Freud]]'s account of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[mother]] is the first [[love]] [[object]] of the [[child]].
THE INTERVENTION OF THE FATHER
It is only the intervention of the [[father]], via the threat of [[castration]], which forces the [[child]] to give up his [[desire]] for the [[mother]].
FATHER
The [[father]] is the agent who helps the [[child]] to overcome the primary attachment to the [[mother]].
The [[father]] is the agent who helps the [[child]] to detach itself from the [[imaginary]] relation with the [[mother]] in order to enter the [[social world]].
KLEINIAN PSYCHOANALYSIS
The work of [[Melanie Klein]] is concerned with the pregenital [[mother]]-[[child]] relation (rather than the with the role of the [[father]]).
[[Jacques Lacan]] alludes several times to [[Melanie Klein]]'s work in his pre-war writings.
FAMILY COMPLEX - WEANING COMPLEX
[[Lacan]] argues that the first of the [[family complexes]] is the [[weaning complex]], in which the interruption of the symbiotic relation with the [[mother]] leaves a permanent trace in the [[child]]'s [[psyche]].
The [[weaning complex]]
MOTHER AND DEATH DRIVE
[[Lacan]] describes the [[death drive]] as a [[nostalgic]] yearning to return to this relation of fusion with the [[mother]]'s [[breast]].<ref>Lacan. 1938. p.35</ref>
DISORDERS
The failure of the [[child]] to detach itself from the [[imaginary]] [[relation]] with the [[mother]] can result in a number of disorders.
The failure of the [[paternal function]] can also give rise to such disorders.
IMAGINARY AND SYMBOLIC
Much of [[Lacan]]'s work is aimed at shifting the emphasis in [[psychoanalytic theory]] from the [[mother]]-[[child]] relation (the [[preoedipal]], the prototype of the [[imaginary]]) back onto the role of the [[father]] (the [[Oedipus complex]], the prototype of the [[symbolic]])
PRIVATION
[[Privation]] is [[Lacan]]'s attempt to theorize more rigorously [[Freud]]'s concept of [[female]] [[castration]] and [[penis envy]].
According to [[Freud]], when [[children]] realize that some people (women) do not have a [[penis]], this is a [[trauma]]tic moment which produces different effects in the [[boy]] and in the [[girl]].
The consequences are different in the [[boy]] and the [[girl].
The [[boy]] develops a [[fear]] of having his [[penis]] cut off.
The [[boy]] [[fear]]s that his own [[penis]] will be cut off by the [[father]] ([[castration]] [[anxiety]]).
THE BOY
In the case of the [[boy]], the [[castration complex]] is the point of exist from the [[Oedipus complex]], its terminal crisis.
Because of his [[fear]] of [[castration]] (often aroused by a threat), the [[boy]] renounces his [[desire]] for the [[mother]] and thus enters the [[latency period]].
THE GIRL
In the case of the [[girl]], the [[castration complex]] is the point of entry into the [[Oedipus complex]]; it is her restment of the [[mother]], whom she blames for depriving her of the [[penis]], that causes her to redirect her [[libidinal]] [[desire]]s away from the [[mother]] and onto the [[father]].
The [[child]], on discovering the [[anatomical]] difference between the [[sexes]] (the [[presence]] or [[absence]] of the [[penis]]), makes the assumption that this difference is due to the [[female]]'s [[penis]] having been cut off.<ref>Freud. 1908c.</ref>
THE DESIRE OF THE MOTHER
According to [[Freud]], the [[desire]] of a [[woman]] to have a [[child]] is rooted in her [[envy]] of the [[man]]'s [[penis]].
The [[girl]] sees herself as already [[castrated]] (by the [[mother]]) and attempts to deny this or to compensate for it by seeking a [[child]] as a [[substitute]] for the [[penis]] ([[penis envy]]).
(The [[girl]] [[envies]] the [[boy]]'s posession of the [[penis]], which she sees as a highly valuable organ.)
[[Freud]] argues that the [[girl]] blames her [[mother]] for depriving her of a [[penis]].
[[Lacan]], however, argues that it is the [[imaginary]] [[father]] whois held to be the [[agent]] of [[privation]].
(However, these two accounts are not encessarily incompatible.)
Even though the [[girl]] may at first resent the [[mother]] for depriving her of a [[penis]] and turn to the [[father]] in the hope that he will provide her with a [[symbolic]] [[substitute]], she later turns her resentment against the [[father]] when he fails to provide her with the [[desire]]d [[child]].
[[Freud]] argues that [[penis envy]] persists into [[adulthood]], manifesting itself in the [[desire]] to have a [[child]] (since the [[father]] has failed to provide her with a [[child]], the [[woman]] turns to another [[man]] instead).
[[Lacan]] argues that even when the [[woman]] has a [[child]], this does not spell the end of her sense of [[privation]].
Her [[desire]] for the [[phallus]] remains [[unsatisfied]], not matter how many [[children]] she has.
The [[mother]]'s basic [[dissatisfaction]] is perceived by the [[child]] from very early on.<ref>{{S4}} p.194</ref>
The [[child]] realizes that she has a [[desire]] that aims at something beyond her relationship with him - the [[imaginary phallus]].
The [[child]] then seeks to fulfil her [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].
In this way, the [[privation]] of the [[mother]] is responsible for introducing the [[dialectic]] of [[desire]] in the [[child]]'s life for the first time.
(The [[girl]] blames the [[mother]] for depriving her of a [[penis]], and redirects her [[affection]]s to the [[father]] in the hope that he will provide her with a [[child]] as a [[symbolic]] [[substitute]] for the [[penis]] she [[lacks]].<ref>Freud. 1924d.</ref>)
When the [[girl]] first realizes that she does not possess a [[penis]], she feels deprived of something valuable, and seeks to compensate for this by obtaining a [[child]] as a [[symbolic]] [[substitute]] for the [[penis]] she has been denied.<ref>Freud. 1924d.</ref>
[[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]], arguing that the [[child]] always represents for the [[mother]] a [[substitute]] for the [[symbolic]] [[phallus]] which she [[lacks]].
However, [[Lacan]] emphasizes that this [[substitute]] never really [[satisfies]] the [[mother]]; her [[desire]] for the [[phallus]] persists even after she has had a [[child]].
The [[child]] soon realizes that he does not completely [[satisfy]] the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], that her [[desire]] aims at something beyond him, and thus attempts to decipher this enigmatic [[desire]].
He must work out an answer to the question ''[[Che vuoi?]]'' ("What do you want from me?").
The answer the [[child]] comes up with is that what the [[mother]] [[desire]]s is the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].
IMAGINARY PHALLUS
The [[child]] then seeks to [[satisfy]] the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].
In this game of "to be or not to be the phallus," the [[child]] is completely at the mercy of the capricious [[desire]] of the [[mother]], [[helpless]] in the face of her [[omnipotence]].<ref>{{S4}} p.69, 187</ref>
This sense of [[powerlessness]] may not give rise to much [[anxiety]] at first.
For a time, the [[child]] experiences his attempts to [[satisfy]] the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], his attempts at being the [[phallus]] as a relatively [[satisfying]] [[game]] of [[seduction]].
It is only when the [[child]]'s [[sexual]] [[drive]]s begin to stir (in infantile masturbation), and an element of the [[real]] is thus introduced into the [[imaginary]] [[game]], that the [[omnipotence]] of the [[mother]]
IMAGINARY PHALLUS
The [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] is perceived by the [[child]] in the [[preoedipal phase]] as the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], as that which she [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]].
The [[child]] thus seeks to [[identify]] with this [[object]].
(The [[imaginary phallus]], the "image of the penis,"<ref>{{E}} p.319</ref>, refers to the [[penis]] imagined as a [[partial object]] which may be detached from the [[body]] by [[castration]].<ref>{{E}} p.315</ref>
END OF IMAGINARY PHALLUS
The [[Oedipus complex]] and the [[castration complex]] involve the renunciation of this attempt to be the [[imaginary phallus]].
(The [[imaginary phallus]] is written OP (lower-case phi) in [[Lacanian]] [[algebra]].)
([[Castration]] is written -OP (minus lower-case phi).
LACAN
Following [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] argues that the [[castration complex]] is central to the [[Oedipus complex]].<ref>{{S4}} p.216</ref>
However, whereas [[Freud]] argues that these two complexes are articulated differently in [[boy]]s and [[girl]]s, [[Lacan]] argues that the [[castration complex]] always denotes the final moment of the [[Oedipus complex]] in both [[sex]]es.
LACK OF THE MOTHER
The state of [[lack]] already [[exist]]s in the [[mother]] prior to the birth of the [[child]].
This [[lack]] is evident in her own [[desire]], which the [[child]] perceives as a [[desire]] for the [[imaginary phallus]].
In other words, the [[child]] realizes at a very early [[stage]] that the [[mother]] is not [[complete]] and self-sufficient in herself, nor fully [[satisfied]] with her [[child]], but [[desire]]s something else.
(This is the [[subject]]'s first perception that the [[Other]] is not [[complete]] but [[lacking]].)
1.
The [[child]] perceives that the [[mother]] [[desire]]s something beyond the [[child]] itself - namely, the [[imaginary phallus]] - and then tries to be the [[phallus]] for the mother]] (see [[preoedipal phase]]).
(The [[mother]] is considered, by both [[sex]]es, as possessing the [[phallus]], as the [[phallic]] [[mother]].<ref>{{E}} p.282</ref>)
2.
The [[imaginary]] [[father]] intervenes to deprive the [[mother]] of her [[object]] (the ''phallus'') by promulgating the [[incest]] [[taboo]].
([[Lacan]] argues that, properly speaking, this is not [[castration]] but [[privation]].)
3.
The [[real]] [[father]] intervenes by showing that he really possesses the [[phallus]], in such a way that the [[child]] is forced to abandon its attempts to be the [[phallus]].<ref>{{S4}} p.208-9, 227</ref>
(The [[Oedipus complex]] is resolved by means of [[castration]].)
The [[child]] must renounce its attempts to ''be'' the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]], to be the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]].
CASTRATION AND JOUISSANCE
The [[subject]] gives up a certain ''[[jouissance]]'' which is never regained despite all attempts to do so.
This "relationship to the [[phallus]] .. is established without regard to the [[anatomical]] difference of the [[sex]]es."<ref>{{E}} p.282</ref>
CASTRATION
[[Castration]] is a [[symbolic]] [[act]] which bears on an [[imaginary]] [[object]].
("[[Castration]] means that ''[[jouissance]]'' must be refused so that it can be reached on the inverted ladder (''l'e(bottom left to upper right)chelle renversE(bottom left to upper right)e'') of the [[Law]] of [[desire]]."<ref>{{E}} p.324</ref>)
CASTRATION AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
[[Lacan]] argues that it is only by accepting (or 'assuming') [[castration]] that the [[subject]] can reach a degree of psychic normality.
In other words, the assumption of [[castration]] has a "normalizing effect."
This normalizing effect is to be understood in terms of both [[psychopathology]] ([[clinical structure]]s and [[symptom]]s) and [[sexual]] [[identity]].
CASTRATION AND CLINICAL STRUCTURES
It is the refusal of [[castration]] that lies at the root of all [[psychopathological]] [[structure]]s.
However, since it is impossible to accept [[castration]] entirely, a completely 'normal' position is never achieved.
The closest to such a position is the [[neurotic]] [[structure]], in which the [[subject]] [[defends]] itself against the [[lack]] in the [[Other]] by [[repressing]] awareness of [[castration]].
This prevents the [[neurotic]] from fully assuming its [[desire]], since "it is the assumption of [[castration]] that creates the [[lack]] upon which [[desire]] is instituted.<ref>{{Ec}} p.852</ref>
DISAVOWAL
[[Diavowal]] is a more radical [[defense]] against [[castration]] than [[repression]].
[[Disavowal]] is at the root of the [[perverse]] [[structure]].
PSYCHOSIS
The [[psychotic]] completely repudiates [[castration]], as if it had never [[exist]]ed.<ref>{{S1}} p.53</ref>
This repudiation of [[symbolic]] [[castration]] leads to the return of [[castration]] in the [[real]], such as in the form of [[hallucinations]] of dismemberment or even self-mutilation of the real genital organs.
CASTRATION AND SEXUALITY IDENTITY
It is only by assuming [[castration]] that the [[subject]] can take up a [[sexual position]] as a [[man]] or a [[woman]] (see [[sexual difference]]).
The different modalities of refusing [[castration]] find expression in the various forms of [[perversion]].
PERVERSION
[[Perversion]] was defined by [[Freud]] as any form of [[sexual]] [[behavior]] which deviates from the norm of [[heterosexual]] genital intercourse.<ref>Freud. 1905d.</ref>
(However, this definition is problametized by [[Freud]]'s own notions of the '[[polymorphous perversity]]' of all [[human]] [[sexuality]], which is characterized by the [[absence]] of any pregiven [[natural]] [[order]].)
PERVERSION AND LACAN
[[Lacan]] overcomes this impasse in [[Freudian]] [[psychoanalytic theory]] by defining [[perversion]] not as a form of [[behavior] but as a [[clinical structure]].
<blockquote>"What is [[perversion]]? It is not simply an aberration in relation to social criteria, an anomly contrary to good morals, although this register is not absent, nor is it an atypicality according to natural criteria, namely that it more or less derogates from the reproductive finality of the sexual union. It is something else in its very [[structure]]."<ref>{{S1}} p.221</ref>
SKIP
THE PHALLUS AND DISAVOWAL
[[Perversion]] is distinguished from the other [[clinical structure]]s by the operation of [[disavowal]].
The [[pervert]] disavows [[castration]]; he perceives that the [[mother]] lacks the [[phallus]], and at the same time refuses to accept the [[reality]] of this [[trauma]]tic perception.
This is most evident in [[fetishism]] (the "[[perversion]] of [[perversion]]s"<ref>{{S4}} p.194</ref>), where the [[fetish]] is a [[symbolic]] [[substitute]] for the [[mother]]'s [[missing]] [[phallus]].
PERVERSION AND THE PHALLLUS
The problematic relation to the [[pahllus]] extends to all [[perversion]]s.
<blockquote>"The whole problem of the [[perversion]]s consists in conceiving how the [[child]], in his relation to the [[mother]] ... [[identifies]] himself with the [[imaginary]] [[object]] of [her] [[desir]] [i.e. the [[phallus]]]."<ref>{{E}} p.197-8</ref>
GESTALT
''[[Gestalt]]'' is a [[German]] word meaning an organized pattern or [[whole]] which has properties other than those of its components in isolation.
The experimental study of [[gestalt]]s began in 1910 with the study of certain phenomena of perception, and led to a [[school]] of thought known as "[[gestalt]] [[psychology]]" which was based on a holistic concept of [[mind]] and [[body]] and which stressed the [[psychological]] importance of [[body]] presentation.
These ideas formed the basis of [[Gestalt]] [[therapy]] as developed by [[Paul Goodman]], [[Fritz Perls]] and [[Ralph Hefferline]].
When [[Lacan]] refers to the [[gestalt]], he refers specifically to one kind of oganized pattern, namely the [[visual]] [[image]] of another member of the same species, which is perceived as a [[unified]] [[whole]].
Such an [[image]] is a [[gestalt]] because it has an effect which none of its component parts have in isolation; this effect is to act as a "releasing mechanism" ([[French]]: ''dEclencheur'') which triggers certain [[instinct]]ual responses, such as reproductive behavior.<ref>{{S1}} p.121f</ref>
In other words, whne an animal perceives a [[unified]] [[image]] of another member of its species, it responds in certan [[instinct]]ual ways.
[[Lacan]] gives many examples from [[ethology]] of such [[instinct]]ual responses to [[images]], but his main interest is in the way the [[gestalt]] functions in [[human]] beings.
For [[human]]s the [[body]] [[image]] is also a [[gestalt]] which produces [[instinct]]ual responses, especially [[sexual]] ones, but the [[power]] of the [[image]] is also more than merely [[instinct]]ual; it constitutes the essential captivating [[power]] of the [[specular iamge]] (see [[captation]]).
It is by [[identifying]] with the [[unified]] [[gestalt]] of the [[body]] [[image]] that the [[ego]] is constantly threatened by [[fear]]s of disintegration, which manifest themselves in [[image]]s of the [[fragmented body]]; these [[image]]s represent the opposite of the [[unified]] [[gestalt]] of the [[body]] [[image]].
GENITAL
In the [[stage]]s of [[psychosexual development]] listed by [[Freud]], the [[genital]] [[stage]]is the last [[stage]] in the series, coming after the two pregenital stages (the [[oral]] [[stage]] and the [[anal]] [[stage]]).
The [[genital]] [[stage]] first arises between the ages of three and five (the infantile genital organization or [[phallic]] [[phase]]) and is then interrupted by the [[latency period]], before returning at puberty (the [[genital]] [[stage]] proper).
[[Freud]] defined this [[stage]] as the final "complete organization" of the [[libido]], a synthesis of the previously anarchic "[[polymorphous perversity" of the pregenital stages.<ref>Freud. 1940a. SE XXIII. p.155</ref>
Because of this, the concept of 'genitality' came to represent a privileged value in [[psychoanalytic theory]] after [[Freud]], coming to represent a [[stage]] of full psychosexual maturity.
[[Lacan]] rejects most [[psychoanalytic theory]] concerning the [[genital]] [[stage]], [[genital]] [[love]], etc., calling it an "absurd hymn to the [[harmony]] of the [[genital]]."<ref>{{E}} p.245</ref>
According to [[Lacan]], there is nothing [[harmonious]] about [[genital]]ity.
THE GENITAL STAGE
THE GENITAL DRIVE
GENITAL LOVE
[[Lacan]] rejects Michael Balint's concept of '[[genital]] [[love]].'
The term indicates a psychosexual maturity in which the two elements of sensuality and [[affection]] are completely integrated and [[harmonized]], and in which there is thus no longer any [[ambivalence]].
HALLUCINATION
HELPLESSNESS
The term '[[helplessness]' ([[French]]: ''[[dE(from lower left to upper right)tresse''; [[German]]: ''[[Hilflosigkeit]]'') 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]]).
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 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, 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>)
[[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 [[subect]] 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>
INTERSUBJECTIVITY
[[Lacan]] begins (in 1953) to analyze in detail the function of [[speech]] in [[psychoanalysis]].
[[Lacan]] emphasizes that [[speech]] is essentially an [[intersubjective]] process.
"The allocution of the [[subject]] entails an allocutor" and therefore "the locutor is constituted in it as [[intersubjectivity]]."<ref>{{E}} p.49</ref>
The term '[[intersubjectivity]]' draws attention to the importance of [[language]] in [[psychoanalysis]] and emphasizes the fact that the [[unconscious]] is "transindividual."
[[Psychoanalysis]] is thus to be conceived in [[intersubjective]] rather than intrasubjective terms.
By 1960 the term '[[intersubjectivity]]' has come to acquire negative connotations for [[Lacan]].
It is now associated, not with [[speech]] as such, but with the notions of reciprocity and symmetry that characterize the [[dual relationship]];<ref>{{S8}} p.20</ref> that is, with the [[imaginary]] rather than with the [[symbolic]].
[[Psychoanalysis]] is no longer to be conceived of in terms of [[intersubjectivity]].<ref>{{S8}} p.20</ref>
Indeed, the experience of [[transference]] is precisely what undermines the notion of [[intersubjectivity]].<ref>Lacan. 1967</ref>
INTROJECTION
INVERSION
[[Freud]] uses the term '[[inversion]]' to designate [[homosexuality]], the idea being that [[homosexuality]] is the inverse of [[heterosexuality]].
[[Lacan]] uses the term in this sense too in his early works.<ref>Lacan. 1938. p.109</ref>
However, in [[Lacan]]'s post-war works the term is used in quite a different sense.
[[Inversion]] then usually refers to a characteristic of the [[specular iamge]].
What appears on one side of the [[real]] [[body]] appears on the other side of the [[image]] of the [[body]] reflected in the [[mirror]].<ref>Lacan. 1951b. p.15</ref>
By extension, [[inversion]] becomes a quality of all [[imaginary]] phenomena, such as [[transitivism]].
Thus in [[schema L]], the [[imaginary]] is represented as a barrier blockign the [[discourse]] of the [[Other]], causing this [[discourse]] to arrive at the [[subject]] ''in an inverted form''.
Hence [[Lacan]]'s definition of [[analytic]] [[communication]] in which the sender receives his own [[message]] in an inverted form.
In 1957, both senses of the term are brought together in [[Lacan]]'s discussion of [[Leonardo da Vinci]].
Taking up [[Freud]]'s argument about [[Leonardo]]'s [[homosexuality]],<ref>Freud. 1910c.</ref> [[Lacan]] goes on to argue that [[Leonardo]]'s [[specular]] [[identification]] was highly unusual in that it resulted in an [[inversion]] of the positions (on [[schema L) of the [[ego]] and the [[little other]].<ref>{{S4}} p.433-4</ref>
TRANSITIVISM
[[Transitivism]] ([[French]]: ''[[transitivisme]]''), a phenomenon first discovered by Charlotte Buhler, refers to a special kind of [[identification]] often observed in the [[behavior]] of small [[children]].
For example a [[child]] can hit another [[child]] of the same age on the left side of his face, and then touch hte right side of his own face and cry in imagined pain.
For [[Lacan]], [[transitivism]] illustrates the confusion of [[ego]] and [[other]] which is inherent in [[imaginary]] [[identification]].
The [[inversion]] (right to left) is further evidence of the function of the [[mirror]].
[[Transitivism]] is also evident in [[paranoia]], in which attack and counter-attack are bound together "in an absolute equivalence."<ref>
FRUSTRATION
[[Frustration]] is generally understood as the [[act]] whereby the [[mother]] denies the [[child]] the [[object]] which would [[satisfy]] its [[biological]] [[need]]s.
[[Freud]] attributes to [[frustration]] an important place in the aetiology of [[symptom]]s, stating that "it was a ''[[frustration]]'' that made the [[patient]] ill."<ref>Freud. 1919a. SE XVII. p.162</ref>
LACAN AND FRUSTRATION
[[Lacan]] classifies [[frustration]] as one of three types of "[[lack]] of [[object]]," distinct from both [[castration]] and [[privation]].
[[Lacan]] argues that [[frustration]] is at the heart of the [[dual relation]] between the [[mother]] ad [[child]].<ref>{{S4}} p.66</ref>
[[Lacan]] argues that [[frustration]] does not concern [[biological]] [[need]]s but the [[demand]] for [[love]].
The function of an [[object]] (to [[satisfy]] a [[need]], such as hunger) (e.g. a [[breast]]) is soon completely overshadowed by its [[symbolic]] function, namely, the fact that it functions as a [[symbol]] of the [[mother]]'s [[love]].<ref>{{S4}} p.180-2</ref>
The [[object]] is thus valued more for being a [[symbolic]] [[gift]] than for its capacity to [[satisfy]] a [[need]].
As a [[gift]], it is inscribed in the [[symbolic[[[ [[network]] of [[law]]s which regulate the circulate of exchanges, and thus seen as something to which the [[subject]] has a legitimate claim.<ref>{{S4}} p.101</ref>
[[Frustration]], properly speaking, can only occur in the context of this legal order, and thus whne the [[object]] which the [[infant]] [[demand]]s is not provided, one can only speak of [[frustration]] when the [[infant]] senses that it has been wronged.<ref>{{S4}} p.101</ref>
In such a case, when the [[object]] is eventually provided, the sense of wrong persists in the [[child]], who then consoles himself for this by [[enjoying]] the sensations which follow the [[satisfaction]] of the original [[need]].
(Thus, far from [[frustration]] involving the failure to [[satisfy]] a [[biological]] [[need]], it often involves precisely the opposite; a [[biological]] [[need]] is [[satisfied]] as a vain attempt to compensate for the true [[frustration]], which is the refusal of [[love]].)
FRUSTRATION AND PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT
[[Frustration]] plays an important role in [[psychoanalytic treatment]].
[[Freud]] noted that, to the extent that distressing [[symptom]]s disappear as the [[treatment]] [[progress]]es, the [[patient]]'s motivation to continue the [[treatment]] tends to diminish accordingly.
In order, therefore, to avoid the risk of the [[patient]] losing motivation altogether and breaking off the [[treatment]] prematurely, [[Freud]] recommended that the [[analyst]] must "re-instate [the [[patient]]'s [[suffering]]] elsewhere in the form of some appreciable [[privation]]."<ref>Freud. 1919a. SE XVI. p.163</ref>
