What is foreclosure?

Psychoses have been studied throughout history. In psychoanalysis, Lacan was one of the authors who delved most deeply into them with the intention of understanding their articulation and development. A key element he found for this was foreclosure.

Through this article we explain what it is about. Before, we will show you some essential concepts so that you can understand it. Join us!

Key concepts before delving into foreclosure

To begin, let’s look at three fundamental aspects of the Lacanian theory of psychoanalysis. These three “dimensions” are based on a topological structure of the individual through these records:

The symbolic. It is linked to language.The imaginary. It is associated with representations through images.The real. It is what resists entering the world of language. It cannot be represented by images.

Jacques Lacan

The real is different from reality, since this would be the articulation between the symbolic and the imaginary. So, it is outside of these, and rather, it is related to object a, or unattainable object of desire.

Another aspect that adds to the understanding of foreclosure is the notion of signifier. It is about the unity that constitutes the symbolic order. It goes beyond words, also objects, relationships and symptoms.

It modifies our perceptions. Furthermore, for Lacan the signifier has primacy, therefore, the structure of language for this author is different from that of linguistics; He conceives that the chain is composed of a relationship of signifiers.

Finally, we want to emphasize the concept of the “Big Other” for Lacan. It consists of language or the treasure of signifiers. Furthermore, with the field of knowledge. Lacan suggested that the child is introduced to language by another, in many cases the mother.

Also, he proposes that speaking beings have the need for an exceptional signifier to exist. Lacan calls this the name of the father, It is an exception to the others, because it means nothing, that is, it has no meaning, and therefore, it produces a void in the field of knowledge or language. So, it would be a substitution of the mother’s wish. And, this function will be what will support the symbolic activity of the subject.

Foreclosure, what is it?

This is the mechanism proposed by Lacan for psychosis. It consists of the rejection of the fundamental signifier. That is, to the symbolic universe. When this rejection occurs, the signifier is not present in the unconscious, which is why we cannot call this mechanism repression.

What is rejected is the paternal function, that should sustain the symbolic activity of the individual. However, when it is not there, it is foreclosed, therefore, it is expressed through other means such as hallucination. This return would occur in the real, since it resists entering the universe of language.

Psychoses and foreclosure

Flocclusion would be the mechanism that operates in psychosis. Since the law is not inscribed in the unconscious, there will be no order that structures thought. In other words, psychosis would be produced among other things by the foreclosure of the father’s name.

Besides, In psychosis the real is very present, that which is difficult to put into words, that which crosses the symbolic.. Then, as Gabriela Urriolagoitia suggests in her article “The structure of psychosis as a consequence of the foreclosure of the father’s name,” this failure is constituted as a function of the effects of language, responding to a diachronic temporal sequence.

However, What do we mean when we talk about psychosis? According to psychoanalysis, it would be a clinical structure of personality. Furthermore, it would be characterized by having a hole in the symbolic associated with the break with the paternal function; that makes it configured in reality.

So, psychosis would be a deficit of the symbolic universe, which produces a void of meaning, or triggering, as a product of foreclosure, which is not inscribed in the unconscious. So, the subject does not know what that means, but he is certain that it has to do with his being.

In short, foreclosure is the mechanism that would act in psychosis, associated with the rupture of the symbolic and is located in the real. Furthermore, it comes into action after piercing the fundamental signifier with the rejection of paternal law.

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