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| − | The term "[[neurosis]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[névrose]]'') is originally a [[psychiatric]] term which came to denote, in the eighteen-century, a whole range of nervous disorders defined by a wide variety of [[symptom]]s.
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| − | [[Freud]] uses the term in a number of ways, sometimes as a general term for all mental disorders in his early work, and sometimes to denote a specific class of mental disorders (i.e. in opposiiton to [[psychosis]]).
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| − | In [[Lacan]]'s work, the term [[neurosis]] always figures in opposition to [[psychosis]] and [[perversion]], and refers not to a set of [[symptom]]s but to a particular [[clinical structure]].
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| − | This use of the term to designate a [[structure]] problematizes [[Freud]]'s distinction between [[neurosis]] and normality.
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| − | [[Freud]] bases this distinction purely on a quantitative factors ("psychoanalytic research finds no fundamental but only quantitative distinction between normal and neurotic life"<ref>Freud. 1990a: SE V, 373</ref>), which is not a [[structural]] distinction.
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| − | In [[structural]] terms, therefore, there is no distinction between the normal [[subject]] and the [[neurotic]].
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| − | 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>
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| − | 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 wholeness which can never be attained because the [[subject]] is essentially [[split]].
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| − | THus whereas [[Freud]] sees [[neurosis]] as an illness that can be cured, [[Lacan]] sees [[neurosis]] as a [[structure]] that cannot be altered.
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| − | 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]].
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| − | According to [[Lacan]], "the structure of a neurosis is essentially a question."<ref>{{S3}} p.174</ref>
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| − | [[Neurosis]] "is a question that being poses for the subject."<ref>{{E}} p.168</ref>
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| − | The two forms of [[neurosis]] ([[hysteria]] and [[obsessional neurosis]]) are distinguished by the content of the question.
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| − | The question of the [[hysteric]] ("Am I a man or a woman?") relates to one's sex, whereas the question of the [[obsessional neurosis]] ("To be or not to be?") relates to the contingency of one's own [[existence]].
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| − | These two questions (the hysterical question about sexual identity, and the obsessional question about death/existence) "are as it happens the two ultimate questions that have precisely no solution in the signifier. This is what gives neurotics this existential value."<ref>{{S3}} p.190</ref>>
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| − | At times [[Lacan]] 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>
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| − | ==See Also==
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| − | * [[Hysteria]]
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| − | * [[Obsessional neurosis]]
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| − | * [[Phobia]]
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| − | * [[Structure]]
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| − | * [[Symptom]]
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| − | ==References==
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| − | <references/>
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| − | [[Category:Dictionary]]
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| − | [[Category:Treatment]]
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| − | [[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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| − | [[Category:Terms]]
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| − | [[Category:Concepts]]
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| − | [[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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