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psychosis (psychose) The term psychosis arose in psychiatry in [[Psychosis]] is a nosological [[category]] distinct from [[neurosis]] and [[perversion]]. It is brought [[about]] by the[[foreclosure]] of a primordial [[signifier]], the [[Name-of-the-Father]].

nineteenth century as In his seminar of 1955-56 ([[Seminar III|Seminar III, ''The Psychoses'']]), Lacan argues that there is a way [[defense mechanism]] specific to [[psychosis]] on the grounds that the peculiarly invasive and devastating [[nature]] of designating psychotics' delusional systems and hallucinations indicates major [[structural]] differences between [[psychosis]] and [[neurosis]].<!--The term [[psychosis]] is used in many ways, but in general refers to [[people]] [[suffering]] from so-called [[schizophrenia]], with [[hallucination]]s and [[delusion]]s; manic [[depression]]; various [[paranoia|paranoid states]]; and severe hypochondrial, [[obsessional neurosis|obsessional]], or [[narcissism|narcissistic states]]. The term "[[psychosis]]" is used in [[psychoanalysis]] to describe a ''severe [[mental illness ]] disorder'', more serious than [[neurosis]], characterized by disorganized [[thought]] [[processes]], disorientation in general[[time]] and [[space]], [[hallucination]]s, and [[delusion]]s. Types of [[psychosis]] include [[paranoia]], [[manic depression]], [[megalomania]], and [[schizophrenia]]. [[Psychosis]] has many different forms: [[paranoia]], [[schizophrenia]], and [[manic-depression]]. During Common features are difficult to define exactly, but psychoanalytically [[speaking]] one can see [[three]] broad features in psychotic patients:

# A [[particular]] relation to reality# A special relation of the subject to his [[speech]];# A particular structure of the subject-->==Sigmund Freud==It is [[true]] that Freud had found that the [[discourse]] of the psychotic and the apparently bizarre and meaningless phenomena of psychosis could be deciphered and [[understood]], just as [[dreams]] can. Freud's life[[analysis]] of the psychotic [[Schreber]]'s memoirs thus broke with contemporary approaches to psychosis, which regarded psychotics as beyond the limits of [[understanding]] (Freud, a basic distinction between psychosis and NEUROSIs came to be1951).

generally acceptedHowever, according as Lacan points out, the fact that the psychotic's discourse is just as interpretable as that of the neurotic leaves the two disorders at the same level and fails to account for the major differences between [[them]], thus the [[distinction]] between the two remains to which be explained. It is around this issue of the different mechanisms in psychosis designated extreme forms and neurosis that Lacan's major contribution to the study ofpsychosis revolves.

mental illness Freud claims that in both neurosis and psychosis there is a [[withdrawal]] of investment, or [[object]]-[[cathexis]], from [[objects]] in the [[world]]. In the [[case]] of neurosis denoted less serious disordersthe object-cathexis is retained, but is invested in fantasized objects in the neurotic's [[internal]] world. In the case of psychosis the withdrawn cathexis is invested in the ego at the expense of all object-[[cathexes]], even in [[fantasy]]. This basic distincturning of [[libido]] upon the ego accounts for [[symptoms]] such as [[hypochondria]] and megalomania. The delusional [[system]], the most striking feature of psychosis, arises in a second [[stage]]. Freud characterizes the [[construction]] of a delusional system as an attempt at recovery in which the psychotic re-establishes a new, often very intense, relation with the people and things in the world by way of a delusional [[formation]].

tion between neurosis ==Jacques Lacan=====History===[[Lacan]] discussed [[psychosis]] throughout his [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|work]]. His interest in [[psychosis]] predates his interest in [[psychoanalysis]]. [[Jacques Lacan]] studied [[psychosis]] for his doctoral research about a [[woman]] he calls "[[Aimee]]."<ref>{{1932}}</ref> Indeed it was his doctoral research, which concerned a [[psychotic]] [[woman]] whom [[Lacan]] calls [[Aimée]] that first led [[Lacan]] to [[psychoanalytic theory]].<ref>{{1932}}</ref> It is common to compare [[Lacan]]'s tortured and at [[times]] almost incomprehensible style of [[writing]] and speaking to the discourse of [[psychotic]] [[patient]]s. [[Lacan]]'s discussions of [[psychosis was taken up ]] are among the most significant and developed by Freudoriginal aspects of his [[work]]. [[Lacan]]'s most detailed [[discussion]] of [[psychosis]] appears in his [[seminar]] of 1955-6, entitled simply ''[[Seminar III|The Psychoses]]''. It is here that he expounds what come to be the main tenets of the [[Lacan]]ian approach to [[madness]].

himself ===Clinical Structure===[[Psychosis]] is defined as one of the three [[clinical structure]]s, one of which is defined by the operation of [[foreclosure]]. In this operation, the [[Name-of-the-Father]] is not integrated in several papers the [[symbolic order|symbolic universe]] of the [[psychotic]] (eit is "[[foreclosed]]"), with the result that a [[hole]] is [[left]] in the [[symbolic order]].g To [[speak]] of a [[lack|hole]] in the [[symbolic order]] is not to say that the [[psychotic]] does not have an [[unconscious]]; on the contrary, in [[psychosis]] "the unconscious is [[present]] but not functioning. Freud"<ref>{{S3}} p. 208</ref> The [[psychotic]] [[structure]] thus results from a certain malfunction of the [[Oedipus complex]], a [[lack]] in the [[paternal function]]; more specifically, 1924b and 1924ein [[psychosis]] the [[paternal function]] is reduced to the [[image]] of the [[father]] (the [[symbolic]] is reduced to the [[imaginary]]).

Lacan===The Psychotic Relation to Reality===In his articles on [[psychosis]] [[Freud]] noted the [[psychotic]]'s interest altered relation to [[reality]]. The 'imaginary [[external]] world' of a psychosis attempts to put itself in [[place]] of the 'external world'. (In Lacanian [[terms]], there are altered relations between [[the Imaginary]] and Real Orders, in psychosis predates his interest parallel with an alteration in psychoanalysis[[the Symbolic]] Order). Indeed

In studying [[psychosis]] Lacan stated, following [[Freud]], that "the problem lies not in the reality that is lost, but in that which takes its place."<ref>{{E}} p. 188-9</ref> Lacan emphasized the 'rent' or [[gap]] that appears in the relation of the psychotic subject to the world, and the nature of the 'patch' which the psychotic subject applies over this gap.<!-- ====Psychotic Phenomena==== --><!-- In [[Lacan]]ian [[psychoanalysis]] it was his doctoral researchis important to distinguish between [[psychosis]], which concerned is a [[clinical structure]], and [[psychotic]] phenomena such as [[delusions]] and [[hallucinations]]. Two [[conditions]] are required for psychotic phenomena to emerge: the [[subject]] must have a [[psychotic]] [[structure]], and the [[Name-of-the-Father]] must be "called into symbolic opposition to the subject."<ref>{{E}} p. 217</ref> In the [[absence]] of the first condition, no confrontation with the paternal signifier will ever lead to psychotic phenomena; a [[neurotic]] can never "become psychotic woman whom ."<ref>{{S3}} p. 15</ref> In the [[absence]] of the second condition, the [[psychotic]] [[structure]] will remain [[latent]]. It is thus conceivable that a [[subject]] may have a [[psychotic]] [[structure]] and yet never develop [[delusions]] or [[experience]] [[hallucination]]s. When both conditions are fulfilled, the [[psychosis]] is "triggered off," the latent [[psychosis]] becomes [[manifest]] in [[hallucination]]s and/or [[delusions]]. --><!-- ==[[Borromean Knot]]== --><!-- In the 1970s [[Lacan]] reformulates his approach to [[psychosis]] around the [[notion]] of the [[borromean knot]]. The three rings in the [[knot]] [[represent]] the three [[orders]]: the [[real]], the [[symbolic]] and the [[imaginary]]. While in [[neurosis]] these three rings are linked together in a particular way, in [[psychosis]] they become disentangled. This [[psychotic]] disassociation may sometimes however be avoided by a [[sinthome|symptomaatic formation]] which [[acts]] as a fourth ring holding the [[other]] three together. -->

calls ===Schreber===In his [[seminar]] on [[psychosis]] ([[{{Y}}|1955-6]]) [[Lacan]] tackled [[Freud]]'s case [[history]] of [[Judge Schreber]], a [[paranoid]] [[schizophrenic]] who wrote a fascinating account of his illnesss entitled ''Memoirs of My Nervous [[Illness]]'AimÈe', that first led (1903). Lacan 's essay "On a question preliminary to psychoanalytic theory any possible treatment of psychosis (see Lacan, 19321957-8)' enlarged on the [[ideas]] of this [[seminar]].

It has often been remarked ===Treatment===[[Freud]] was skeptical about the possibility of practising [[psychoanalysis]] with [[psychotic]] [[patients]]. [[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]] in arguing that while [[psychosis]] is of great interest for [[psychoanalytic theory]], it is [[outside]] the field of the classical method of [[psychoanalytic treatment]], which is only appropriate for [[neurosis]]; "to use the [[technique]] that Lacan's debt [[Freud]] established outside the experience to which it was applied (i.e. neurosis) is as stupid as to this patient toil at the oars when the ship is reminiscent ofon the sand."<ref>{{E}} p. 221</ref>

<!-- Not only is the classical method of [[psychoanalytic treatment]] inappropriate for [[psychotic]] [[subject]]s, but it is even contraindicated. For example [[Lacan]] points out that the technique of [[psychoanalysis]], which involves the use of the couch and [[free association]], can easily trigger off a latent [[psychosis]].<ref>{{S3}} p. 15</ref> This is the [[reason]] why [[Lacan]]ian [[analyst]]s usually follow [[Freud]]'s debt recommendation to his first begin the [[treatment]] of a new [[patient]] with a series of face-to-face interviews.<ref>{{F}} p.1913c. [[SE]] XII. 123-4</ref> Only when the [[analyst]] is reasonably sure that the [[patient]] is not [[psychotic]] will the [[patient]] be asked to lie down on the couch and [[free association|free associate]]. -->This does not mean that Lacanian [[analysts]] do not work with [[psychotic]] [[patient]]s. On the contrary, much work has been done by [[Lacanian]] [[analyst]]s in the [[treatment]] of [[psychosis]]. However, the method of [[treatment]] differs substantially from that used with [[neurotic patients (]] and [[perverse]] [[patient]]s. [[Lacan]] himself works with [[psychotic]] [[patient]]s but left very few comments on the technique he employed; rather than setting out a technical procedure for [[working]] with [[psychosis]], he limited himself to discussing the questions preliminary to any such work.<ref>{{L}} p. 1957-8b</ref><!-- [[Lacan]] rejects the approach of those who were [[limit]] their analysis of [[psychosis]] to the [[imaginary order]]; "[[nothing]] is to be expected from the way psychosis is explored at the level of the [[imaginary]], since [[the imaginary]] [[mechanism]] is what gives psychotic [[alienation]] its [[form]], but not its dynamics."<ref>{{S3}} p. 146</ref> It is only by focusing on the [[symbolic order]] that [[Lacan]] is able to point to the fundamental determining element of [[psychosis]], namely, the hole in the [[symbolic]] [[order]] caused by [[foreclosure]] and the consequent "imprisonment" of the psychotic subject in the imaginary. It is also female)this emphasis on the [[symbolic order]] which leads [[Lacan]] to [[value]] above all the [[linguistic]] phenomena in [[psychosis]]: "the importance given to language phenomena in psychosis is for us the msot fruitful lesson of all."<ref>{{S3}} p. In other144</ref> -->

words, whereas Freud's first approach ===The Relation of the Subject to his Speech===Lacan asserted that the failure to take account of the unconscious is by way relation ofthe subject to his speech had resulted in a failure to [[understand]] psychotic phenomena.

neurosis, Lacan's first approach is via <!-- ====Language Disorders==== --><!-- The [[language]] phenomena most notable in [[psychosis. It has also been common  to compare Lacan's tortured and at times almost incomprehensible style of writing and speaking to the discourse of psychotic patients. Whatever one     ]] are stabilized in the delusional metaphor' (E, 217). Another way of describing this is as 'a relationship between the subject and the signifier in its most formal dimension, in its dimension as a pure signifierdisorders' (S3, 250). This relationship of the subject to the signifier in its purely formal aspect constitutes 'the nucleus of psychosis' (S3, 250). 'If the neurotic inhabits [[language]], the psychotic is inhabited, possessed, by language' (S3, 250).  Of all the various forms of psychosis, it iS PARANOIA that most interests Lacan, while schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis are rarely dis- cussed (see S3, 3-4). [[Lacan follows Freud in maintaining a structural distinc- tion between paranoia and schizophrenia.    Defined in clincal psychiatry as a serious mental illness affecting the whole of ]] argues that the personality.Unlike a patient suffering from [[neurosispresence]], the psychotic cannot be treated on of such disorders is a consensual basis and may therefore have to be committed to necessary condition for a psychiatric institution.  The word ''Psychose'' has been current since the 1840s, but was originally used to refer to any form diagnosis of mental illness[[psychosis]].<ref>Laplanche and Pontalis 1967{{S3}} p. 92</ref>The distinction between psychosis and neurosis was introduced and gradually refined in Among the course of the nineteenth century, and is basic to psychoanalysis.In psychoanalysis, 'psychosis' is used to describe conditions such as hallucinatory confusion, paranoia and schizophrenia.Freud's theory of psychoanalysis was developed primarily with reference to neurosis.psychotic language disorders which Lacan, in contrast, began his career by working with psychotics in psychiatric hospitals before he became a psychoanalyst (1932) and therefore elaborates a more specific theory of the origins of psychosis.  Contrasting neurosis snad psychosis, Freud argues that, whilst both conditions originate in a conflict between the ego and other agencies of the psyche, psychosis results from a disturbance in the ego's relationship with the external world, neurosis from a conflict between the ego and the id.In psychosis the ego withdraws from some part or aspect of the rela world, either fialing draws attention to perceive it or being unaffected by its perceptiuon of it.. Lacan draws on Freud's comment are holophrases and remarks on the case of Daniel Paul Schrebe, an appeal court judge who wrote an autobiographicla account of his paranoid delusions, to elaborate the thesis that psychosis is trigged by the specific mechanism extensive use of neologisms (which may be completely new [[foreclosurewords]]coined by the psychotic, or already existing words which the psychotic redefines).<ref>Lacan 1957-8, 1981{{Ec}} p. 167</ref>A key signifier or In [[{{Y}}|1956]], [[Lacan]] attributes these [[language]] disorders to the name of the father is expelled or foreclosed fromt he subject[[psychotic]]'s symbolic world and a hole or rent is left in its ploace.The foreclosed signifier is not integrated into the unconscious thanks to an act of repression,a nd therefore cannot return on the form of a neurotic signifier.It returns, rather, in the real, usually in the form of persecutory hallucinations and delusions.  A mental condition whereby the patient completely loses touch with reality.  ==Psychosis versus Neurosis==The term '[[psychosislack]]' denotes an severe form of a sufficient [[pathology|mental illnessnumber]], while of ''[[neurosispoints de capiton]]' denotes less severe forms'.--> <!-- The lack of sufficient ''[[Sigmund Freudpoints de capiton]] elaborated '' means that the psychotic experience is characterized by a distinction between constant [[psychosisslippage]] and of the [[neurosissignified]].<ref>Freudunder the signifier, 1924b and 1924e</ref> <blockquote>"which is a disaster for [[Insignification]] neurosis ; there is a continual "cascade of reshapings of the signifier fromw hich the ego suppresses part increasing disaster of the id out of allegiance to realityimaginary proceeds, whereas until the level is reached at which signifier and signified are stablized in psychosis it lets itself be carried away by the id and detached from a part of realitydelusional [[metaphor]]."<ref>5{{E}} p.202217</ref></blockquote> ==Psychosis and Lacan==[[Jacques LacanAnother]] studied way of describing this is as "a [[psychosisrelationship]] for his doctoral research about a between the subject and the signifier in its most [[womanformal]] he calls "[[Aimeedimension]], in its dimension as a pure signifier."<ref>Lacan, 1932{{S3}} p. 250</ref> It is common to compare Lacan's style This relationship of writing and speaking the subject to the discourse signifier in its purely formal aspect constitutes "the nucleus of psychosis."<ref>{{S3}} p.250</ref> "If the neurotic inhabits language, the psychotic patients. [[Psychosis]] has many different forms: [[paranoia]]is inhabited, [[schizophrenia]]possessed, and [[manic-depression]]by language."<ref>{{S3, 3-4}} p. 250</ref> -->

[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]