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The [[Freud]] uses the term "in a number of ways, sometimes as a general term for all [[treatment|mental disorders]] in [[Works of Sigmund Freud|his early work]], and sometimes to denote a specific class of [[treatment|mental disorders]] (i.e. in opposiiton to [[neurosispsychosis]]").

condition such This use of the term to designate a [[structure]] problematizes [[Freud]]'s distinction between [[neurosis]] and normality.  ===Neurosis and Normality===[[Freud]] bases this distinction purely on a quantitative factors ("psychoanalytic research finds no fundamental but only quantitative distinction between normal and neurotic life",<ref>{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1990a: [[SE]] V: 373</ref> which is not a [[structural]] distinction. In [[structural]] terms, therefore, there is no distinction between the "normal" [[subject]] and the [[neurotic]].  ===Psychosis and Perversion===This [[Lacanian]] nosology identifies three [[clinical structures]]: [[neurosis]], [[psychosis]] and [[perversion]], in which there is no position of "mental health" which could be called "normal".<ref>{{S8}} p. 374-5; {{E}} p. 163</ref> The normal [[structure]], in the sense of that which is found in the statistical majority of the population, is [[neurosis]], and "mental health" is an illusory ideal of [[split|wholeness]] which can never be attained because the [[subject]] is essentially [[split]]. Thus whereas [[Freud]] sees [[neurosis]] as an illness that can be [[cure]]d, [[Lacan]] sees [[neurosis]] as a [[structure]] that cannot be altered. The aim of [[psychoanalytic treatment]] is therefore not the eradication of the [[neurosis]] but the modification of the [[subject]]'s position ''vis-à-vis'' the [[neurosis]].  ===Question of Neurosis===According to [[Lacan]], "the structure of a neurosis is essentially a question."<ref>{{S3}} p.174</ref> <blockquote>"[[Neurosis]] is a question that being poses for the subject."<ref>{{E}} p.168</ref></blockquote> The two forms of [[neurosis]] -- [[hysteria] in which somatic symptoms ] and [[obsessional neurosis]] -- are an expression distinguished by the content of the question. The question of the [[hysteric]] ("[[hysteria|Am I a psychical conflict originating man or a woman?]]") relates to one's [[sex]], whereas the question of the [[obsessional neurosis]] ("[[obsessional neurosis|To be or not to be?]]") relates to the [[time|contingency]] of one's own [[existence]]. These two questions (the [[hysteria|hysterical]] question about [[sexuality|sexual identity]], and the [[obsessional]] question about [[death]]/[[existence]]) "are as it happens the two ultimate questions that have precisely no solution in childhoodthe signifier. This is what gives neurotics this existential value."<ref>{{S3}} p.190</ref>  ===Phobia===At times [[Category:DictionaryLacan]] lists [[phobia]] as a [[neurosis]] alongside [[hysteria]] and [[obsessional neurosis]], thus raising the question of whether there are not two but three forms of [[neurosis]].<ref>{{E}} p.168</ref>  ==See Also=={{See}}* [[End of analysis]]* [[Hysteria]]||* [[Obsessional neurosis]]* [[Perversion]]||* [[Psychosis]]* [[Split]]||* [[Structure]]* [[Subject]]||* [[Symptom]]* [[Treatment]]{{Also}} ==References==<references/> {{Cat}}