Lacan in the United States

Abstract

Dr. Bruce Fink—Lacanian analyst, translator, clinical supervisor, and professor of psychology at Duquesne University—discusses the ambivalent reception of Lacanian theory and technique by American clinical psychoanalysis in this interview. Dr. Fink interrogates points of departure between Lacanian, American, and British schools of psychoanalysis around issues such as empirical research, the therapeutic aims of treatment, the role of affects in the clinic, and drive theory. Finally, Dr. Fink elaborates on Lacan's often-misunderstood conception of the end of analytic treatment as “identification with the symptom.”