Changes

[[Freud]] grouped together as one condition a series of [[symptom]]s, which include:* obsessions (recurrent ideas), * impulses to perform actions which seem absurd and/or abhorrent to the subject, and * 'rituals' (compulsively repeated actions such as checking or washing). ==Jacques Lacan==Which [[Lacan]] also sees these [[symptom]]s as typical of [[obsessional neurosis]], he argues that [[obsessional neurosis]] designates not a set of [[symptom]]s but an underlying [[structure]] which may or may not manifest itself in the [[symptom]]s typically associated with it. Thus the [[subject]] may well exhibit none of the typical obsessional [[symptom]]s and yet still be diagnosed as an [[obsessional neurotic]] by a [[Lacan]]ian [[analyst]]. For [[Lacan]], the term "[[obsessional neurosis]]" denotes not a set of [[symptom]]s but an underlying [[structure]] -- which may or may not manifest itself in the [[symptom]]s typically associated with it. -- Following [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] classes [[obsessional neurosis]] as one of the main forms of [[neurosis]]. In 1956, [[Lacan]] develops the idea that, like [[hysteria]], [[obsessional neurosis]] is essentially a question which [[being]] poses for the [[subject]].<ref>{{S3}} p.179-80</ref> The question which constitutes [[obsessional neurosis]] concerns the contingency of one's [[existence]] (which also testifies to the special burden of [[Frguilt]]felt by the [[obsessional]]); the [[obsessional]] performs some compulsive ritual because he thinks that this will enable him to escape the [[lack]] in the [[Other]], the [[castration]] of the [[Other]], which is often represented in [[fantasy]] as some terrible disaster.  - For example, in the case of one of [[Freud]]'s [[obsessional neurotic]] [[patient]]s, whom [[Freud]] nicknamed the [[Rat Man]], the [[patient]] had developed elaborate rituals which he performed to war off the [[fear]] of a terrible punishment being inflicted on his [[father]] or on his beloved.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. 1909d.</ref> These rituals, both in their form and content, led [[Freud]] to draw parallels between the [[structure]] of [[obsessional neurosis]] and the [[structure] of [[religion]], parallels which [[Lacan]] also notes.  -- Whereas the [[hysterical]] question concerns the [[subject]]'s [[sexual position]] ("Am I a [[man]] or a [[woman]]?"), the [[obsessional neurotic]] repudiates this question, refusing both sexes, calling himself neither [[male]] nor [[névrose obsessionnellefemale]]: <blockquote>"The obsessional is precisely neither one [sex] nor the other - one may also say that he is both at once."<ref>{{S3}} p.249</ref></blockquote> -- [[Lacan]] also draws attention to the way that the [[obsessional neurotic]]'')s question about [[existence]] and [[death]] has consequences for his attitude to [[time]]. This attitude can be one of perpetual hesitation and procrastination while waiting for [[death]],<ref>{{E}} p.99</ref> or of considering oneself immortal because one is already [[dead]].<ref>{{S3}} p.180</ref> -- Other features of [[obsessional neurosis]] which [[Lacan]] comments on are the sense of [[guilt]], and the close connection with anal eroticism. In respect of the latter, [[Lacan]] remarks that the obsessional neurotic does not only trnsform his shit into gifts and his gifts into shit, but also transforms himself into shit.<ref>{{S8}} p.243</ref>          ==See Also==* [[Symptom]]* [[Structure]]