by Katrien Steenhoudt | Vol 24 (3/4) 2006
In psychoanalysis, the function of construction consists in mapping the unheard of the unconscious logic. In this way, speaking (la parole), or the subjective position and thus the desire of the patient, acquire room to move. It is from the dialectic between the unconscious and the conscious discourses that the absurd can be elaborated. This castration happens through a construction which, in turn, provokes the creativity of the subject. This mechanism is illustrated with a clinical case.
by Katrien Steenhoudt | Vol 25 (2) 2007
The aim of the psychoanalytic cure is here considered as the movement which targets the subject’s assumption of its existential guilt, i.e., the guilt resulting from not living up to its destiny as inscribed by the Other. Through the psychoanalytic work the patient is confronted with the unconscious inscription of his being, as well as with the guilt resulting from not being able to meet this inscription. In this way, gradually, the preconditions are laid down for a process of mourning, i.e., for a process of disidentification, that may provoke anxiety. Beyond the assumption of existential guilt, desire is articulated more freely, which enables a different positioning of the subject towards the other, towards love, towards knowledge.
