Stijn Vanheule

Identity through a Psychoanalytic Looking Glass

This paper examines how “identity” can be conceptualized and how the experience of “oneself” is influenced by the interplay of forces inside the mind and the body. We address three psychoanalytic approaches: Freuds topological views on the mental apparatus; Lacans theory on the mirror stage, his optical model of the ideals of the subject, and his theory on the object a; and the theory of Fonagy and colleagues on how the self develops and how affect regulation takes place in the context of attachment relationships. We outline similarities and differences in how identity is conceptualized within these perspectives and we discuss clinical implications.

Nachträglichkeit: A Freudian perspective on delayed traumatic reactions:

The Freudian concept of Nachträglichkeit is central to the psychoanalytical understanding of trauma. However, it has not received much attention within the contemporary field of trauma studies. This paper attempts to reconstruct the logic inherent to this concept by examining Freud’s remarks on the case of Emma. Furthermore, it is argued that Nachträglichkeit offers an interesting perspective on both (a) the well-established yet controversial finding that traumatic reactions sometimes follow in the wake of non-Criterion A events (so-called minor stressors or life events) and (b) the often-neglected phenomenon of delayed-onset PTSD. These two phenomena will appear to be related in some instances. Nachträglichkeit clarifies one way in which traumatic encounters are mediated by subjective dimensions above and beyond the objective particularities of both the event and the person. It demonstrates that the subjective impact of an event is not given once and for all but is malleable by subsequent experiences.

A Lacanian perspective on psychotic hallucinations

This article gives an overview of the psychiatric approach to psychotic hallucinations and discusses Lacan’s conceptual break from this paradigm. Rejecting the traditional focus on the unreality of hallucinatory perceptions, Lacan examines the effects that psychotic hallucinations have on the person who experiences them. He develops an alternative theoretical framework which indicates that psychosis is characterized by the incapacity to signify one’s own existence as a subject in relation to the Other. Lacan’s different perspectives on hallucinations are discussed in terms of the logic of signification as the constitution of subjectivity and as a manifestation of the object a and jouissance, and also in terms of his theory of the sinthome.

“Bad boys don't cry”: a thematic analysis of interpersonal dynamics in interview narratives of young offenders with psychopathic traits

Most discussions of the social and interpersonal styles in individuals with strong psychopathic traits focus on their dangerousness or their affective and interpersonal deficiencies. This study has a different focus, and starts from the idea that such focus on the threat emanating from individuals with a psychopathic style might blind us from the logic inherent to their way of relating with the world. By means of a qualitative analysis (thematic analysis) of narratives from a Lacanian talking therapy, this study examines how 15 youngsters with strong psychopathic traits make sense of interpersonal events and relations. The main recurring theme across these narratives was that others in general are fundamentally distrustful antagonists that they have to protect themselves from. Especially the father figure, with whom identification seems to take place, is seen as a violent actor. Consequently, these youngsters develop multiple strategies of dealing with the threat they experience in relation to (significant) others. These relationship patterns also emerged within the therapeutic relationship, resulting in frequent testing of the therapists trustworthiness. The results of this study, discussed in terms of Lacanian theory, might help therapists to develop treatment approaches that better fit with the interpersonal orientation of individuals with strong psychopathic traits.

How to return to subjectivity: Natorp, Husserl, and Lacan on the limits of reflection

This article discusses the recent call within contemporary phenomenology to return to subjectivity in response to certain limitations of naturalistic explanations of the mind. The meaning and feasibility of this call is elaborated by connecting it to a classical issue within the phenomenological tradition concerning the possibility of investigating the first-person perspective through reflection. We will discuss how this methodological question is respectively treated and reconfigured in the works of Natorp, Husserl, and Lacan. Finally, we will lay out some possible consequences of such a cross-reading for the conception of subjectivity and the concomitant effort to account for this dimension of first-person experience in response and in addition to its omission within the standard third-person perspective of psychological research.

A metasynthesis of published case studies through Lacan's L-schema: Transference in perversion

Transference in perversion is characterized by specific problems such as a defiant and polemic attitude, erotic transference, projections, and aggression. Such transference poses particular problems in the treatment of perversion and might render analytical work with these patients impossible. The authors propose that Lacans L‐schema can contribute to separating productive from counterproductive aspects of transference as it distinguishes between an Imaginary and a Symbolic dimension in transference. In this meta‐synthesis of 11 published case studies on sexual perversion, patterns of transference are analysed. On the Imaginary dimension, the authors found that patients with perversion tend to (un)consciously engage the analyst in a relationship characterized by identification, fusion and rivalry. On the Symbolic dimension, they found that perverse patients are able to question their motives, lapses, symptoms, and subjective identity. The thematic analysis revealed the importance of the position of the analyst in this work, which is described within the L‐schema as being the representative of the otherness in the Other. Implications for clinical practice and recommendations for further research are outlined.

Metaphor in psychosis: on the possible convergence of Lacanian theory and neuro-scientific research

Starting from the theories of leading psychiatrists, like Kraepelin and de Clérambault, the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) formulated an original theory of psychosis, focusing on the subject and on the structuring role of language. In particular, he postulated that language makes up the experience of subjectivity and that psychosis is marked by the absence of a crucial metaphorization process. Interestingly, in contemporary psychiatry there is growing empirical evidence that schizophrenia is characterized by abnormal interpretation of verbal and non-verbal information, with a great difficulty to put such information in the appropriate context. Neuro-scientific contributions have investigated this difficulty suggesting the possibility of interpreting schizophrenia as a semiotic disorder which makes the patients incapable of understanding the figurative meaning of the metaphoric speech, probably due to a dysfunction of certain right hemisphere areas, such as the right temporoparietal junction and the right superior/middle temporal gyrus. In this paper we first review the Lacanian theory of psychosis and neuro-scientific research in the field of symbolization and metaphoric speech. Next, we discuss possible convergences between both approaches, exploring how they might join and inspire one another. Clinical and neurophysiological research implications are discussed.

Badiou's theory of the event and the politics of trauma recovery

There exists a conceptual parallel between psychological accounts of psychic trauma on the one hand, and French philosopher Alain Badiou’s notion of the event on the other: both are defined by a relation of incommensurability or excessiveness with regard to the pre-existent context or system. Further development of this parallel, i.e., viewing trauma as an event in the Badiouian sense, enables us to pinpoint and clarify a logical fallacy at work in psychological theories of post-traumatic growth. By thinking of trauma recovery as a process of accommodating the pre-existent mental schemata to the “new trauma-related information,” these theories risk taking as a given that which must first be constituted by the subject: the “content” (i.e., “information”) of the trauma. By emphasizing the necessity of the activity of the subject for the development of a new context that allows the event to be “read,” Badiou’s theory of the subject offers a way around the aforementioned logical fallacy. In so doing, it re-introduces the essential yet generally neglected political dimension of trauma recovery. This is illustrated through the example of the speak-outs of the 1970s women’s liberation movement.

The psy-complex revisited: Lacanian psychoanalysis and critical theoryParkerIan, Lacanian Psychoanalysis: Revolutions in Subjectivity. New York, NY: Routledge, 2011. 248 pp. ISBN 97080415455428.

This is a most interesting book that clearly serves a double purpose. On the one hand, Parker introduces and explains key concepts from Lacan’s work, such as clinical structures or jouissance and the object. In a theoretical, but vivid way, he reviews the Lacanian conceptual apparatus and explains how Lacan and later Lacanian authors work with this apparatus. By doing so, Parker delineates Lacanian psychoanalysis from other theoretical schools, such as object-relational or intersubjective psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, psychology, and psychiatry. In addition, he makes connections with related Freudian concepts, for example, transference and the unconscious, which Lacan interpreted in a particular way. In this respect, the book connects with other excellent introductions to Lacanian psychoanalysis (e.g., Fink, 1995; Nobus, 2000). On the other hand, Ian Parker’s book is quite unique in that it situates the discussion of Lacan’s work in a broader analysis of what he calls the psy-complex under contemporary capitalism. Indeed, for those who wonder why and how Lacanian psychoanalysis finds a place in the broad fields of critical psychology and critical psychiatry, this book is a must-read. Reviewing the cultural history of psychoanalysis, Parker pertinently states that there is “a tense, sometimes uneasy, but mainly compliant relationship between psychoanalysis and capitalism” (p. 89), mainly due to the fact that psychoanalysis was, and is, frequently absorbed by psychology and psychiatry. Parker, by contrast, believes in the subversive role of psychoanalysis and situates its innovative value and role in opposition to dominant psy-discourses, which are intrinsically interwoven with, and compliant to, capitalism. For example, psychiatry and psychoanalysis start from a completely different kind of materialism. Whereas psychiatry seeks to ground its practice and concepts in (neuro) biology, psychoanalysis works on the materiality of speech. They also start from different epistemological positions, which implies a different position in relation to truth. Parker illustrates this very well by pointing out the specificity of the psychoanalytic position via Lacan’s discussion of Descartes’ cogito ergo sum. Crucial for Lacan is that the cogito is not identical with the sum: thoughts never coincide with a person’s being. The structural difference between them implies the lack, which is the dimension all 483681 TAP23510.1177/0959354313483681Theory & PsychologyReview 2013