On the Aim and End of Analysis in the Lacanian School

Abstract

This paper explores the connection between identification, the end of analyses, and the question of the analysis of resistance, not only from the point of view of the well-known Lacanian concept of the resistance of the analyst, but also from the concept of the analysis of the repressive unconscious that I derive from the work of both Freud and Lacan. Within Lacanian psychoanalysis, the final aim of the analysis of identifications is the end of the identification with the analyst. When identifications are abandoned, the subject finds his or her identity (which is no-identity) in the larger symbolic structure and the wondrous emptiness of unbeing (désêtre). I examine whether the aim of analysis is to analyze/strengthen ego defenses and weaken/’master’ the drives, or to weaken the ego and produce transformations within jouissance. The resistance of the analyst as the analyst’s wish to be recognized as a ‘master’ or a ‘subject supposed to know’ keeps the treatment in the imaginary dimension of the ego ideal rather than carrying the analysis further in the direction of the subject and subjective destitution. The support given to ego defenses in the early phase of the treatment is only a strategy within the transference. ‘The termination of analysis occurs when one has gone around a circle twice; that is to say, to rediscover that which holds one captive” Lacan (1977–1978).

Keywords:

• Emptiness of Unbeing Keyword: Emptiness of Unbeing
• End of Analysis Keyword: End of Analysis
• identification Keyword: identification
• Repressive Unconscious Keyword: Repressive Unconscious
• Resistance of the Analyst Keyword: Resistance of the Analyst

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Rights: Incopyright