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[[Hallucination]]s are usually defined in [[psychiatry]] as "false perceptions," that is, perceptions which arise "in the absence of an appropriate external stimulus."<ref>American Psychiatric Association. 1987. [.398</ref>
[[Lacan]] finds such definitions inadequate, since they ignore the dimension of [[meaning]] and [[signification]].<ref>{{EC}} p.77; {{E}} p.180</ref>
[[Hallucination]]s are a typical phenomenon of [[psychosis]], and are usually auditory (hearing voices), but may also be visual, somatic, tactile, olfactory, or gustatory.
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[[Lacan]] argues that [[psychotic]] [[hallucination]]s are a consequence of the operation of [[foreclosure]].
[[Foreclosure]] refers to the [[absence]] of the [[Name-of-the-Father]] from the [[symbolic|symbolic universe]] of the [[psychotic]] [[subject]].
A [[hallucination]] is the return of this [[foreclosed]] [[signifier]] in the dimension of the [[real]]; "that which has not emerged into the light fo the symbolic appears in the real."<ref>{{Ec}} p.388</ref>
THis is not to be confused with [[projection]], which [[Lacan]] regards as a mechanism proper to [[neurosis]] rather than [[psychosis]].
In this distinction, [[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]]'s analysis of [[Schreber]]'s [[hallucination]]s.
<blockquote>"It was incorrect to say that the perception which suppressed internally is projected outwards; the truth is rather, as we now see, that what was abolished internally returns from without.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. 1911c. SE XII. p.71</ref></blockquote>
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While [[hallucination]]s are most commonly associated with [[psychosis]], there is another sense in which they play an important part in the [[structure]] of [[desire]] in all [[subject]]s.
[[Freud]] argues that "[t]he first wishing seems to have been a hallucinatory cathecting of the memory of satisfaction."<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. 1900a. SE V. p.598</ref>
==See Also==
* [[Foreclosure]]
* [[Psychosis]]
* [[Name-of-the-Father]]
* [[Neurosis]]
* [[Real]]
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
