Difference between revisions of "Foreclosure"

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Jacques Lacan used the French word <i>forclusion</i> (fore-closure) to translated the German term <i>Verwerfung</i>, previously rendered in French as <i>rejet</i> (repudiation). Sigmund Freud had introduced the term along with negation (<i>Verneinung</i>) and repression (<i>Verdrängung</i>) as a defense mechanism.</p>
 
  
<p>Foreclosure is a primordial defense because it does not act on a signifier that is already inscribed within the chain of signifiers, but rather, it rejects the inscription itself. Foreclosure is thus antithetical to <i>Bejahung</i> (affirmation).</p>
 
<p>This operation of repudiation especially affects highly meaningful signifiers such as the Name-of-the-Father, the guarantor of castration. Lacan viewed the foreclosure of this signifier as the characteristic mechanism of psychosis. In "On a Question Prior to any Possible Treatment of Psychosis" (<i>Écrits</i>), he wrote: "I will thus take <i>Verwerfung</i> to be foreclosure of the signifier. At the point at which the Name-of-the-Father is summoned—and we shall see how—a pure and simple hole may answer in the Other; due to the lack of the metaphoric effect, this hole will give rise to a corresponding hole in the place of phallic signification" (p. 191). To paraphrase, let us say that when the subject calls upon the Father to guarantee the law that situates both the subject and his desire in the Other, he encounters only an echo in a void that triggers a cascade of delusional metaphors. These readily become organized around the fantasmatic presence of an authority who is suspected of having intrusive or criminal intentions; it is as if the foreclosure of the Name-of-the-Father made present in the Real a malevolent authority desiring to commit sexual abuse or homicide.</p>
 
<p>Why does foreclosure come about? One explanation is that the child has been exposed to a mother who has refused to recognize the law, either because it does not situate her in accordance with her desires, or because it compels her to separate herself from its product. It may also happen that the real father reveals himself to be incapable of inscribing himself into a symbolic line-age, and consequently invalidates it (cf. Schreber's father in "Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia [Dementia Paranoides]," 1911c). But not infrequently, skipping a generation, the child of a psychotic couple may validate the Name-of-the-Father on its own, based on what he finds in language and verifies with the help of substitute parent figures.</p>
 
<p>Could specific forms of foreclosure be responsible for the division of the psychoses into paranoia and schizophrenia? Nothing points to this conclusion, even if paranoia is an attempt at a cure through the designation of a real, albeit a persecutory father. This designation turns the signifier into a sign of certain truth.</p>
 
<p>Many have asked whether psychoanalytic treatment can repair a foreclosure. Case histories do not provide any clear answers.</p>
 
  
<p>Let us recall that Schreber, for his part, found a kind of stabilizing by accepting emasculation as being "consonant with the Order of Things" (p. 48); by becoming a woman, he could attract the divine presence that safeguarded him. Equally interesting are studies of borderline cases. It seems that the latter more likely result from a denial or annulment of the Name-of-the-Father, with a predictable failure of the law, but without producing the reshapings of the real (its fragmentation or its investment by a persecutory figure) that are characteristic of foreclosure.</p>
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The term '[[foreclosure]]' ([[French]]: ''[[forclusion]]'', [[German]]: ''[[Verwerfung]]'') is used by [[Jacques Lacan]] to describe the [[psychical]] [[mechanism]] that triggers [[psychosis]].
  
  
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Foreclosure does not act on a signifier that is already inscribed within the chain of signifiers.
 +
Foreclosure rejects the inscription of the signifier within the chain of signifiers.
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Foreclosure is thus antithetical to <i>Bejahung</i> (affirmation).
 +
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[[Foreclosure]] is a [[psychical]] [[mechanism]] which expels the primordial [[signifier]] (the [[phallus]] or the [[Name-of-the-Father]]) from the [[symbolic]] [[order]].
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from the [[symbolic]] universe of the [[subject]].
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"I will thus take <i>Verwerfung</i> to be [[foreclosure]] of the [[signifier]]. At the point at which the [[Name-of-the-Father]] is summoned—and we shall see how—a pure and simple hole may answer in the [[Other]]; due to the [[lack]] of the [[metaphor]]ic effect, this [[hole]] will give rise to a corresponding [[hole]] in the place of [[phallic]] [[signification]]."<ref>[[Lacan, Jacques]]. ''[[Écrits]]''. "On a Question Prior to any Possible Treatment of Psychosis." p.191</ref>
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==Hallucinations==
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The subject calls upon the Father to guarantee the law that situates both the subject and his desire in the Other, but encounter only a void.
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The [[foreclosure]] of the [[Name-of-the-Father]] gives rise to the [[fantasmatic]] presence (present in the [[Real]]) of a malevolent [[authority]], suspected of having intrusive or criminal intentions, desiring to commit sexual abuse or homicide.
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Unlike a [[repressed]] [[signifier]], a [[foreclosed]] [[signifier]] is not absorbed into the [[unconscious]] and therefore does not reappear in the [[psyche]] in the form of a [[neurotic]] [[symptom]].
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It returns, rather, in the [[real]], usually in the form of a  [[hallucination]].
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==Psychosis==
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Lacan viewed the [[foreclosure]] of the [[signifier]] as the characteristic [[mechanism]] of [[psychosis]].
 +
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Sigmund Freud had introduced the term along with negation (<i>Verneinung</i>) and repression (<i>Verdrängung</i>) as a defense mechanism.</p>
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==Examples==
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Why does foreclosure come about?
 +
 +
One explanation is that the child has been exposed to a mother who has refused to recognize the law, either because it does not situate her in accordance with her desires, or because it compels her to separate herself from its product.
 +
 +
It may also happen that the real father reveals himself to be incapable of inscribing himself into a symbolic line-age, and consequently invalidates it (cf. Schreber's father in "Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia [Dementia Paranoides]," 1911c).
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==
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* [[Infantile neurosis]]  
 
* [[Infantile neurosis]]  
 
* [[Law of the father]]  
 
* [[Law of the father]]  
* [[Linguistics and psychoanalysis]]  
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* [[Linguistics]]  
 
* [[Negative]]  
 
* [[Negative]]  
 
* [[Negation]]  
 
* [[Negation]]  
 
* [[Neurosis]]  
 
* [[Neurosis]]  
 
* [[Psychosis]]
 
* [[Psychosis]]
* [[Psychoses, chronic and delusional]]  
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* [[Delusions]]  
 
* [[Psychotic defenses]]  
 
* [[Psychotic defenses]]  
 
* [[Real]]  
 
* [[Real]]  
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* [[Splitting]]  
 
* [[Splitting]]  
 
* [[Topology]]
 
* [[Topology]]
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
 
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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[[Category:Treatment]]

Revision as of 01:47, 24 June 2006


The term 'foreclosure' (French: forclusion, German: Verwerfung) is used by Jacques Lacan to describe the psychical mechanism that triggers psychosis.


Foreclosure does not act on a signifier that is already inscribed within the chain of signifiers. Foreclosure rejects the inscription of the signifier within the chain of signifiers. Foreclosure is thus antithetical to Bejahung (affirmation).

Foreclosure is a psychical mechanism which expels the primordial signifier (the phallus or the Name-of-the-Father) from the symbolic order. from the symbolic universe of the subject.

"I will thus take Verwerfung to be foreclosure of the signifier. At the point at which the Name-of-the-Father is summoned—and we shall see how—a pure and simple hole may answer in the Other; due to the lack of the metaphoric effect, this hole will give rise to a corresponding hole in the place of phallic signification."[1]

Hallucinations

The subject calls upon the Father to guarantee the law that situates both the subject and his desire in the Other, but encounter only a void.

The foreclosure of the Name-of-the-Father gives rise to the fantasmatic presence (present in the Real) of a malevolent authority, suspected of having intrusive or criminal intentions, desiring to commit sexual abuse or homicide.

Unlike a repressed signifier, a foreclosed signifier is not absorbed into the unconscious and therefore does not reappear in the psyche in the form of a neurotic symptom.

It returns, rather, in the real, usually in the form of a hallucination.

Psychosis

Lacan viewed the foreclosure of the signifier as the characteristic mechanism of psychosis.

Sigmund Freud had introduced the term along with negation (Verneinung) and repression (Verdrängung) as a defense mechanism.

Examples

Why does foreclosure come about?

One explanation is that the child has been exposed to a mother who has refused to recognize the law, either because it does not situate her in accordance with her desires, or because it compels her to separate herself from its product.

It may also happen that the real father reveals himself to be incapable of inscribing himself into a symbolic line-age, and consequently invalidates it (cf. Schreber's father in "Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia [Dementia Paranoides]," 1911c).

See Also

References

  1. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. "On a Question Prior to any Possible Treatment of Psychosis." p.191
  1. Freud, Sigmund. (1894a) Obsessions and phobias: Their psychical mechanism and their aetiology. SE, 3, 69-82.
  2. ——. (1911c) Psycho-analytic notes on an autobiographical account of a case of paranoia (dementia paranoides). SE, 12, 1-82.
  3. Lacan, Jacques. (2004). On a question prior to any possible treatment of psychosis.Écrits: A Selection (Bruce Fink, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1955-56)