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The [[English ]] term "[[frustration]]" came into increasing prominence in certain branches of [[psychoanalytic theory]] in the 1950s, together with a shift in emphasis from the [[Oedipus complex|Oedipal]] [[structure|triangle]] to the [[mother]]-[[child]] [[dual relation|relation]].

In this context, [[frustration]] was generally [[understood ]] as the [[act]] whereby the [[mother]] denies the [[child]] the [[object]] which would satisfy one of his [[biology|biological]] [[need]]s.   To [[frustrate]] a [[child]] in this way was [[thought ]] by some [[analyst]]s to be a major factor in the aetiology of [[neurosis]].

"[[Frustration]]" is also the term which the ''[[Standard Edition]]'' uses to translate [[Freud]]'s term ''[[Frustration|Versagung]]''.   While this term is not extremely prominent in [[Freud]]'s [[work]], it does [[form ]] part of his [[theoretical ]] [[vocabulary]].  At a first glance, indeed, it may appear that [[Freud]] discusses [[frustration]] in the way described above.   For example he certainly attributes to [[frustration]] an impor­tant [[place ]] in the aetiology of [[symptom]]s, [[stating ]] that "it was a frustration that made the patient ill."<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Lines of Advance in Psycho-Analytic Therapy]]," 1919a [1918]. [[SE]] XVII, 162.</ref>

Hence when [[Lacan]] argues that the term "[[frustration]]" is "quite simply [[absent]] from Freud's work,"<ref>{{S3}} p.235</ref> what he means is that the [[Freud]]ian [[concept ]] of ''[[Frustration|Versagung]]'' does not correspond to the concept of [[frustration]] as described in the above paragraph.   [[Lacan]] argues that those who have theorized the concept of [[frustration]] in this way have, by deviating from [[Freud]]'s work, led [[psychoanalytic theory]] into a series of impasses.<ref>{{S4}} p. 180</ref>  Thus in the [[seminar]] of 1956-7 he seeks a way of reformulating the concept in accordance with the [[logic ]] of [[Freud]]ian [[psychoanalytic theory|theory]].

[[Lacan]] begins by classifying [[frustration]] as one of the [[three ]] types of "[[lack|lack of object]]," distinct from both [[castration]] and [[privation]].

Although he concedes that [[frustration]] is at the heart of the primary relations between [[mother]] and [[child]],<ref>{{S4}} p. 66</ref> he argues that [[frustration]] does not concern [[biology|biological]] [[need]]s but the [[demand]] for [[love]].   This is not to say that [[frustration]] has [[nothing ]] to do with a [[real]] [[object]] capable of [[satisfying ]] a [[need]] (e.g. a [[breast]], or a feeding bottle); on the contrary, such an [[object]] is certainly involved, at least at first.<ref>{{S4}} p.66</ref>

However, what is important is that the [[real]] function of this [[object]] (to [[satisfaction|satisfy]] a [[need]], such as hunger) 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]] [[object|gift]] than for its capacity to [[satisfy]] a [[need]].

As a [[gift]], it is inscribed in the [[symbolic order|symbolic network]] of [[law]]s which regulate the circuit 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 [[law|legal]] [[order]], and thus when 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 (of broken promises, of [[love]] withheld) persists in the [[child]], who then consoles himself for this by [[enjoyment|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]] plays an important [[role ]] in [[psychoanalytic treatment]].   [[Freud]] noted that, to the extent that distressing [[symptom]]s [[disappear ]] as the [[treat­ment]] progresses, 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>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Lines of Advance in Psycho-Analytic Therapy]]," 1919a [1918]. [[SE]] XVII, 163.</ref>

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>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Lines of Advance in Psycho-Analytic Therapy]]," 1919a [1918]. [[SE]] XVII, 163.</ref>  This technical advice is generally known as the rule of [[frustration|abstinence]], and implies that the [[analyst]] must continually [[frustrate]] the [[patient]] by refusing to gratify his [[demand]]s for [[love]].   In this way, "the patient's need and longing should be allowed to persist in her, in order to serve as forces impelling her to do work and to make changes."<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Observations on Transference Love]]," 1915a. [[SE]] XII, 165</ref>

While [[Lacan]] agrees with [[Freud]] that the [[analyst]] must not gratify the [[analysand]]'s [[demand]]s for [[love]], he argues that this [[act]] of [[frustration]] is not to be seen as an end in itself. Rather, [[frustration]] must be seen simply as a means to enable the [[signifier]]s of previous [[demand]]s to appear.

Rather<blockquote>"The analyst is he who supports the demand, not, [[frustration]] must be seen simply as a means has been said, to enable frustrate the subject, but in order to allow the [[signifiersignifiers]]s of previous [[demand]]s in which his frustration is bound up to appearreappear."<ref>{{E}} p. 255</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>"The analyst is he who supports the demand, not, as has been said, to frustrate the subject, but in order to allow the signifiers in which his frustration is bound up to reappear."<ref>{{E}} p. 255</ref></blockquote> The aim of the [[analyst]] is, by supporting the [[analysand]]'s [[demand]]s in a [[state ]] of [[frustration]], to go beyond [[demand]] and [[cause ]] the [[analysand]]'s [[desire]] to appear.<ref>{{E}} p. 276</ref>

[[Lacan]] differs from [[Freud]] in the way he theorizes the rule of [[frustration|abstinence]].   For [[Freud]], the rule of [[frustration|abstinence]] primarily concerned the [[analysand]]'s [[frustration|abstinence]] from [[sexual ]] [[activity]]; if a [[patient]] implores the [[analyst]] to make [[love]] to her, the [[analyst]] must [[frustrate]] her by refusing to do so.   While [[Lacan]] agrees with this advice, he stresses that there is a much more common [[demand]] that the [[analyst]] can also [[frustrate]] -- the [[analysand]]'s [[demand]] for a reply.   The [[analysand]] expects the [[analyst]] to follow the rules of everyday [[communication|conversation]].   By refusing to follow these rules -- remaining silent when the [[analysand]] asks a question, or taking the [[analysand]]'s [[word]]s in a way [[other ]] than that in which they were intended -- the [[analyst]] has a powerful means at his disposal for [[frustrating]] the [[analysand]].

There is [[another ]] way that the [[analyst]] [[frustrates]] the [[analysand]] which [[Lacan]] mentions in 1961.  This is the [[analyst]]'s refusal to give the [[sign]]al of [[anxiety]] to the [[analysand]] - -the [[absence]] of [[anxiety]] in the [[analyst]] at all [[times]], even when the [[analysand]] [[demand]]s that the [[analyst]] [[experience ]] [[anxiety]].  [[Lacan]] suggests that this may be the most fruitful of all forms of [[frustration]] in [[psychoanalytic treatment]].