Psychoanalysis

psychoanalysis (psychanalyse) Psychoanalysis is the theory and practice initiated by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) founded on the discovery of the unconscious. Freud distinguishes between psychoanalysis as (i) a method for investigating unconscious mental processes, (ii) a method for treating neurotic disorders, and (iii) a set of theories about the mental processes revealed by the psychoanalytic method of investigation and treatment (Freud, 1923a: SE XVIII, 235). The word 'psychoanalysis' on its own is therefore ambiguous, since it can refer to psychoanalysis as a practice, or to psychoanalysis as a theory, or to both. In this dictionary, when it is necessary to avoid this ambiguity, the term 'psychoanalytic treatment' is used to refer to psychoanalysis as a practice and the term 'psychoanalytic theory' is used to refer to psychoanalysis as a body of thought.

    Lacan trained initially as a psychiatrist, and turned to psychoanalysis to help him with his psychiatric research. This then led Lacan to train as a psychoanalyst himself in the 1930s. From then on, until his death in 1981, he dedicated himself to practising as an analyst and developing psychoanalytic theory. In the process, Lacan constructed a highly original way of discussing psychoanalysis which both reflected and determined              an original way of conducting the treatment; in this         sense it is thus possible to speak of a specifically Lacanian form of psychoanalytic treatment. However, Lacan never admits that he has created a distinctive 'Lacanian' form of psychoanalysis. On the contrary, when he describes his own approach to psychoanalysis, he speaks only of 'psychoanalysis', thus implying that his                  own approach is the only authentic form of psychoanalysis, the only one which is truly in line with Freud's approach. Thus the three major non-Lacanian

schools of psychoanalytic theory (KLEINIAN PSYCHOANALYSIS, EGO-PSYCHOLOGY,

OBJECT-RELATIONS THEORY) are all, in Lacan's view, deviations from authentic

psychoanalysis whose errors his own return to Freud is designed to correct.

(See FREUD, RETURN TO.)

    From the very beginning, Lacan argues that psychoanalytic theory is              a

scientific rather than a religious mode of discourse (see Science), with a

specific object. Attempts to apply concepts developed in psychoanalytic

theory to other objects cannot claim to be doing 'applied psychoanalysis',

since psychoanalytic theory is not a general master discourse but the theory of

a specific situation (Ec, 747). Psychoanalysis is an autonomous discipline; it

may borrow concepts from many other disciplines, but this does not mean that

it is dependent on any of them, since it reworks these concepts in a unique way.

Thus psychoanalysis is not a branch of PSYCHOLOGY (S20, 77), nor of medicine,

nor of PHILOSOPHY (S20, 42), nor of LINGUISTIcs (S20, 20), and it is certainly not

a form of psychotherapy (Ec, 324), since its aim is not to 'cure' but to

articulate truth.