Circle for the Lacanian Orientation of Omaha
and
Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center
Present
The Lacanian Clinical Approach, 2011-2012
« Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, An Orientation to the Treatment »
Faculty:
Thomas Svolos, MD
Pam Jespersen, MA, CPC, LIMHP
» . . . as important a matter to deal with as the deliberate reinforcement in the analyst of his nescience regarding each subject who comes to him for analysis, of an ever renewed ignorance so that no one is considered a typical case. » Jacques Lacan, « The Subversion of the Subject » in Écrits
This course will present the psychoanalytic approach to diagnosis. Freud and Lacan both worked with concepts of diagnosis close to the classical psychiatric approach. For Lacan, as later elaborated by Jacques-Alain Miller, the conceptualization of diagnosis has developed in two different directions. One direction is an attempt to more precisely formalize diagnosis, in particular the distinction between neurosis and psychosis. A second direction emphasizes the singularity of each subject. This second direction in fact obscures some of the clarity of the first approach, but both must be taken into account in the treatment.
In this course, we will examine the historical development of psychoanalytic diagnosis in Freud and Lacan, along with the more recent development of the concept of Ordinary Psychosis. This approach will be contrasted with the deterioration of psychiatric diagnosis in the development of the DSM. We will also highlight the function of the diagnosis in the orientation to the treatment.
This course will meet on the third Thursdays of most months, from 1200 – 100. Our first session is Thursday, June 16.
For registration, contact Pam Jespersen.
Phone: 402-572-2937
Suggested reading for first session: Pierre-Gilles Gueguen, « Who Is Mad and Who Is Not? On Differential Diagnosis in Psychoanalysis »
