PSYCHOTHERAPY - Jacques Lacan

Jacques Lacan was France’s most famous psychoanalyst, who came up with the intriguing concept of the ‘mirror phase.’

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Produced in collaboration with Reflective Films

[ihazthots]

25 years later, I still look at myself in the mirror and wonder, 'Damn! Is that me?'

[fakeapplestore]

You had me thinking that Rasputin and Lacan sere related for a second

[willmcdaniel]

“His brother became a benedictine monk”

*shows an russian orthodox monk*

[bolivar]

1. There is a TED Talk by Laurel Braitman called " Depressed Dogs, Cats with OCD. What Animal Madness Means for us Humans". She studies animal's mental health issues. She says that people often think how difficult her work must be, since the poor things can't tell you what they suffer from. She answers
saying that we aren't any different indeed.How very true! I am sure Lacan would like that!

In fact, Argentina's most beloved psychoanalyst Gabriel Rolon says that when patients come to him claiming to have a certain problem, over the course of the therapy, it always turns out that indeed their problem was something totally different...

2. I highly recommend Gabriel Rolon's wonderful psychotherapy books to everyone. He writes in Spanish, but the books are translated into German and Portuguese too. He mentions Lacan a lot in his books. He says for example, that for Lacan the ultimate achievement of a psychoanalyst would be to help a patent "live his solitude without sadness". What an ambitious goal really...

3. It is also very true that we will never understand anybody entirely ( including ourselves I would add) and we also will be misunderstood ( and misunderstand ourselves! ) Pico Iyer says that when his mother turned 80, he asked her what she has learned after so many years . She said:

" You can never know another person".

I also remembered this wonderful line by Federico Garcia Lorca:

"..and the heart feels like an island in infinity."

" y el corazon se siente isla en el infinito"


It is as depressing as it sounds. But in the end, in terms of our need for love and all the things we all suffer from, we have a lot in common too.

4. Considering the "mirror face", there is an incredible and really fun episode by the podcast Radiolab called: Mirror, Mirror. Here is the info:
Up next, we meet a man named John Walter who swapped places with his mirror self. Kind of. He explains how changing his hair part changed his life, and how the experience convinced him that mirrors (and the reversed images they reflect) lie to us. We run John's theory by Mike Nicholls of the University of Melbourne, who admits John might be on to something about the way we perceive faces.

5. I do agree with Lacan's thoughts on love! Talking about the way romantic love works he says something like:
"To love is to give what you don't have, to the one who is not who you think that is".

Sorry I don't have the original quote. I have it here in a book in Spanish:
" Amar es dar lo que no se tiene a quien no lo es".


I guess he is talking about that period where we fall in love: we show ourselves much more tolerant, understanding, generous( especially with our time) and patient than we indeed are. The first 6 months or so... So we are "giving" something that we indeed don't really have, since it is impossible for us to continue with that intensity. So in that period of mutual blindness non of us is being what he or she really is.

6. And the most fun quote I know by Lacan is what he says about the Christian injunction " love thy neighbour as thyself". He says this must be ironic, because people hate themselves!
Well, I don't think this is true for everyone. But it reminds us of something very important: If we want to be a compassionate, loving and generous person, we must start with ourselves.

Thanks a lot for this wonderful lesson, as always!

[wafsinc]

What, no mention of The Real or Object petit a?

[JohnnyWalkerKat]

Say what you want about Lacan... I'm doing the past 2 years Lacanic psychoanalysis and it help me alot... With my major anxiety and with alot of other problems...

[iggyman]

Can you guys do Henri Ey? He was a French psychiatrist who was Lacans' theoretical rival. He created his own theories behind the human psyche (mixing psychoanalysis and neurobiology) and helped modernize psychiatry by defining and classifing different mental illnesses in his manuals, some of which are still used to this day.

[Axle-F]

Another excellent video, Alain. But can I just give a shout out to whoever edits your videos, they do an amazing job and I really enjoy it from a cinemagraphic perspective!

[IoannisKazlaris]

Lacan as an antidote to all kinds of pop psychology... I find him fascinating (although sometimes unnecessary obscure) and very intellectually intriguing challenging a lot of so called "norms".

[chavenadehemoglobina]

"wipe face" Its an obscenity "sniffs" catastrophe "rub nose" and so on and so on... "ajust shirt"

[mltiago]

The mirror stage was one of the most frustrating and liberating concept I ever learned about.

[jacquesstoop]

why does this channel make me feel so good?

[jacobgLeelover]

Pls do one on carl jung! He's one of the most interesting psychologists and the one fascinates me truly with his theories on personality.

[JK-iinw]

"Love is giving something we don't have to someone who doesn't want it."

[werewolf]

Do a video on Kropotkin.

Chomsky works too.

[joelkelly]

An intellectual celebrity is not that unusual in France.

[fingermand]

Yeah, this has almost nothing to do with Lacan...

[lironil]

I'm having a rather hard time understanding Lacan's three stages (the Real, the Symbolic and the Imaginary). Shame you don't include them in the video :(

[grantgaylord]

As someone who has recently been trying to understand Lacan through a wide range of books, seminars, podcasts, etc., this really synthesized it all together for me. Thanks!

[HumanbeingonfloatingEarth]

So, im a barber...this made sense
When people sit in my chair ...and all their deep thoughts come out, im a better help to them because of this channel. :)
Ever thank ful.