Lacanian discourse theory and the process of change in Lacanian-oriented talking therapies.

Abstract

The present study aims at mapping and interpreting factors that stand out as being relevant to personal change through Lacanian-oriented psychoanalytic talking therapy, starting from accounts offered by Lacanian psychoanalysts of therapies they conducted. Using interview data on how these psychoanalysts perceived the therapeutic journey of their patients, we applied a thematic analysis to gain insight into what these psychoanalysts believed effectuated change that occurred for their patients. Second, we interpret the data within the context of Lacan's discourse theory, one of the models proposed by Lacan to grasp the process of psychoanalysis. We discerned three principal themes. Participants indicated that their patients entered therapy with an insisting question related to their own functioning, which was further provoked by the analysts. Second, by embodying the element of the unsaid, the analysts focused on the speech of their patients, creating a space to critically listen to what their patients were saying, so their patients were able to reflect on the motives that could have been influencing their words and actions. The psychoanalysts focused on the subjective logic of patients' functioning; the specific ways patients dealt with challenges in the subject-other relationship. Lacanian structural diagnoses served as a means of reorienting treatment toward a person-centered case construction. Third, the articulation of subjectively important symbolic material (master signifiers) was a key, allowing patients to "let go" of the repetitive impact these master signifiers had on their life. Remarkably, while positioned in the analytic discourse, analysts nonetheless used other discourses to incite further elaboration, intervening with surprising flashes.