When the father is more than just a signifier: Lacan’s later work on the father-function in psychosis

Abstract

This article examines central ideas from Jacques Lacan’s later psychoanalytic theory on psychosis. In the 1950s, Lacan formulated a structural model of psychosis, asserting that the central element of symbolically organized mental life, the Name-of-the-Father, is missing, leading to a latent vulnerability for psychotic episodes. In the 1970s, Lacan made significant changes to this model by introducing two new concepts: Father-of-the-Name and père-version. These concepts are plays on the original Name-of-the-Father concept and refer to two other aspects of the father function: the creative act of naming and embracing modes of life, respectively. Furthermore, in the 1970s, Lacan suggested that creating coherence in mental life does not necessarily require an exemplar of a paternal identification figure. Drawing from the case of the modernist writer James Joyce, he argued that singular inventions can just as effectively establish stability. This argument is elaborated upon by introducing the concepts of “sinthome” and “escabeau.”