Lacanians Rejoice! For it is Jacques Lacan’s 111th Birthday!

Jacques Lacan has been regarded as one of the most significant and influential psychoanalysts since Sigmund Freud.  Lacan always claimed that he was developing and formalizing ideas that Freud had worked on in the period from 1893 – 1938.  Freud founded a new discipline and treatment: psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has two closely related aspects: clinical work and academic work. Clinical work is carried out with patients who suffer from a wide range of problems, including phobias, obsessions, impotence, anxiety, and hallucinations. The psychoanalyst uses only words in his treatment rather than medicine or physical treatments. Academic Psychoanalysis aims to study mental life in general and includes studies of literature and the social sciences.

Psychoanalysts are mainly divided into two groups respectively:  those influenced by Lacan’s work and those more or less loyal to the ideas of Ego Psychology and the International Psycho-Analytic Association.  Lacan’s ideas are mostly followed in France, Spain, Italy, and South America. While those who follow the International Psycho-Analytic Association are predominantly in North America and England, where Lacan’s influence has been felt the least.

While a close revision of Lacan’s theories demands a study of logic, science, literature and other disciplines, his ideas were mainly inspired above all by his clinical experiences with his clients. Though some claim his theories are overly intellectual, it is an attempt to grasp and make sense by what he as witnessed during his clinicals.

To learn more about Jacques Lacan check out Lacan For Beginners!