Lacanian

Lacanian refers to the psychoanalytic theory and practice inspired by the French psychiatrist Jacques Lacan (1901–1981). Emerging from Lacan’s seminars and writings from the mid-20th century, the Lacanian framework reinterprets Freud through linguistics and structuralism, emphasizing language, signification, and the formation of the subject.

Key concepts include the view of the unconscious as structured like a language; the triad of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real; the mirror stage, in which the infant forms a sense of self through image and misrecognition; the name-of-the-father and entry into the Symbolic order; desire as the demand of the Other; lack and jouissance; and the central role of the big Other and signifiers in human subjectivity. In clinical practice, Lacanian analysis focuses on dialogue, free association, and transference, with the analyst interpreting linguistic and symbolic structures rather than seeking direct drives, aiming to reveal how the subject is constituted through language.

Lacanian thought has influenced philosophy, literary theory, film studies, and feminist theory, shaping schools and scholars such as Slavoj Žižek and Julia Kristeva. The term “Lacanian” describes adherents of Lacan’s approach as well as studies and therapies that deploy his concepts. It remains controversial, criticized for its dense, opaque language and debates over clinical efficacy and interpretation, but it has had a lasting impact on critical theory and psychoanalytic discourse.