Paralysis

Hysteria

Lacan also uses the idea of the fragmented body to explain certain typical symptoms of hysteria.

When a hysterical paralysis affects a limb, it does not respect the physiological structure of the nervous system, but instead reflects the way the body is divided up by an 'imaginary anatomy'.

In this way, the fragmented body is "revealed at the organic level, in the lines of fragilization that define the anatomy of phantasy, as exhibited in the schizoid and spasmodic symptoms of hysteria."

See Also

• fragmented body
• ego
• mirror stage
• body
• lack
• fragmentation
• illusion