Jacques Lacan Theory

Jaques Lacan was a French psychoanalyst who reconceptualized Freud using post-structuralism.  Lacan rejected attempts to link psychoanalysis with social theory, saying 'the unconscious is the discourse of the Other' -- that human passion is structured by the desire of others and that we express deep feelings through the 'relay' of others. He thus saw desire as a social phenomenon and psychoanalysis as a theory of how the human subject is created through social interaction. Desire appears through a combination of language, culture and the spaces between people. Lacan focused largely on Freud's work on deep structures and infant sexuality, and how the human subject becomes an 'other' through unconscious repression and stemming from the Mirror phase. The conscious ego and unconscious desire are thus radically divided. Lacan considered this perpetual and unconscious fragmentation of the self as Freud's core discovery. Lacan thus sought to return psychoanalysis on the unconscious, using Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistics, structural anthropology and post-structural theories. Lacanian psychoanalysis is rather ruthless in its aggressive challenging that seeks to dismantle the imaginary sense of completeness (as in the Mirror phase) and to remove illusions of self-mastery through a mirror image. A strong ego is seen as defensive deceit and expressing it during analysis is seen as resistance to change. Fear of disintegration and lack drives the person to realize themselves in another imaginary individual. Lacan's theory was the mirror theory. He said when toddlers first see their selves in the mirror they see a perfect version of theirselves which they look up to and want to fulfil. This then carries on later in life with desires. Everyone has a desire and as soon as that desire is filled we want something else. we are never truly happy with ourselves.  Lacan created the idea of 'lack' and that it causes desires to arise. This is similar to Freud's approach of the ID acting on the hedonistic lifestyle whereas the superego acts on moral principles and what 'lack' relates to is the ego which is in-between.