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When a human being is reduced to a state of helplessness, subjected to a primal kind of passivity by the impositions of others, he or she may seek to regain mastery through repetition of the experience. For Kreisler et al. (1966), too much distress of this kind may cause psychosomatic disorders; for Tustin (1972), the result may be recourse to autistic defenses.

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.

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]].

(The recognition of this contrast engenders a depressive effect in the [[child]].<ref>{{S4}} p.186</ref>)

<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>

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>

==See Also==