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The Logic of the Subject in Conflict with Involuntary Commitment

by | Vol 34 (4) 2016

Involuntary commitment and psychoanalysis: how can they be reconciled? Involuntary commitment marks something within the subject, just as a crisis does. Within the moment of a crisis, the overwhelming real is initially limited via a literal restriction of the freedom of movement. During the moment of crisis the subject often first makes a “failed” attempt to limit the overwhelming experience by way of an acting out or passage à l’acte. The subject is forced to do “something”. Freedom, both that of the subject and of society, has disappeared. A decision has to be made. In this scenario, we are very far removed from a subject with a demand for therapy or psychoanalysis. Nevertheless a certain dialectic can be initiated via involuntary commitment. The point without any dialectic is precisely the real that emerges during the moment of crisis. Using cases to illustrate, we discuss more elegant solutions. At the same time we are also confronted with the impossibility of such a clinic of the real.

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