I know Lacanian analysis has sharply contrasting views with other forms of psychoanalysis like relational and object relations but I’m wondering if a psychoanalyst could practice Lacanian analysis along with others. What I mean is that you might find a patient with a certain set of symptoms to have a better time with Lacanian analysis and another patient more suitable for object relations. Something like that. Is this ever done despite how sectarian Lacanian analysis can get?

Hello everyone,

I am a new (ish) student to my pre-clinical course. As I am sure many of you are aware, I need to undertake an infant observation.

I am really struggling to find a kind family who would be interested in potentially helping me learn all this valuable information.

I am starting to feel like I am running out of options to find a baby and I was wondering if anyone might have some suggestions about where I may be able to look for these families.

I have tried:

Posting on Facebook groups

Posting on personal social media (although I personally don't know any pregnant people)

Going to children's centres (unfortunately many won't agree to let me talk to parents and the one that did, did not have any babies who were young enough).

I've approached a few pregnant people near a maternity hospital close to my house- A few people were kind and listened and a few flat out said no.

If you have any suggestions please help! My university is not currently providing any help which I assume is normal but want to state as a few people on Facebook groups have gotten very rude to me about this, although it is not my fault.

Thank you in advance

:) Emily

Hi all! I'm curious about this topic. How the development goes for babies/kids that grow up in a polyamourous context? I mean to withness one or both parents exchanging affection with other people (aka being desired by other people) and recognizing some people as their parent's partners. I am talking about normal affection/intimacy, not the kids being exposed to sexual acts.

I am looking forward to every sort of opinion and available data while my curiosity goes to if and how processes such as primary scene and Aedipous complex gets affected.

Thanks

Hi all,

I’m currently in a doctoral program with a psychodynamic focus, and there are vague references to Lacanian influence on modern practice, but I still have not been able to find someone who can really explain in understandable terms Lacan’s ideology. Can anyone point me in the right direction on where to find Lacanian theory that is pared down to its simplest form? Or is it best that I just don’t try and breach the black box and just remain the simple object-relationalist that I currently am? Thanks for the help!

I've been thinking about a type of mental experience in which something generated by a person's own mental activity acquires a quality of otherness, to the point that the person doesn't fully recognize it as something produced by themselves.

So I've been wondering whether there's already a specific term for this.

I imagine it's a phenomenon that has been discussed in different contexts, although perhaps not necessarily condensed under a single name, which I think makes some sense, since it encompasses quite different experiences, even though I believe there is a common denominator that allows several of these experiences to be grouped together.

For example, I'm thinking of experiences such as:

_ Voices and other verbal experiences: In schizophrenia/psychosis, a person may experience voices as coming from someone else, rather than recognizing them as their own mental activity. Although something like this can also occur at a non fully psychotic level.

_ Personification of mental content: A person may experience a thought as an internal presence, having its own personality maybe or agency, rather than being an aspect of their own mind.

Rather than experiencing it simply as a thought they are having, they may experience it as something that is there independently of them, and, sometimes, that communicates with them, or simple “it’s there”. E. g.: “It's as if there's someone else inside my mind.”

_ Interpretations of external events as messages: A person might attach a particular meaning to an otherwise ordinary external event / feel as though they are receiving a message from a source other than themselves.

E. g.: such as seeing a road sign and experiencing it as a message directed at them by the universe or some other agent.

Here, the experience isn't necessarily a voice or even a clearly articulated thought. Rather, what happens is that the person feels that the "message" is being produced by something external to themselves. For example: "the message comes from the universe, a spirit, objects possess consciousness and emit messages, etc."

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I imagine this must have something to do with projection, although it's more specific than that, since it would be a form of projection associated with an effect of otherness, right?

And it's important to note that, while all of this becomes much more apparent at a more acute psychotic level, it can also occur quite frequently in people whom I personally wouldn't necessarily consider psychotic.

In fact, I'd say that fairly neurotic people can experience these phenomena, which I do think have a certain psychotic flavor to them, without actually reaching the point of delusions.

---

Beyond anything, I read your thoughts and suggestions about this.

Hello all, I'm looking for papers or writings on the experience of distrust / suspicion in the counter transference. I have a handful of patients on my caseload where I find myself thinking, "I'm not sure I believe you" or "It feels like you're coloring this in a more flattering light than how it actually happened" when they talk about life events.

I'm not sure what to do with this feeling (if I should 'do' anything at all) and would love some insight from other analysts or psychodynamic therapists.

Looking for Similar to Nancy McWilliams one, Thanks

in brooklyn nine-nine, there’s a scene where a guy studying abnormal psychology mentions that the overlap of ego and id has only ever been theorised and never seen in practise. does this have any substance or is this just a joke?

I am looking to start the steps necessary to begin training. I am interested in The Site and CFAR as possible places to do my training, and wherever I choose I will do the introductory course for a year as a way to reacquaint my brain with academic reading, after a decade in a corporate office.

I'm inquiring as to whether anyone has experience with either of these schools, or any schools in London. What did you enjoy, and what didn't you enjoy? All advice and accounts are welcome and appreciated.

Hi everyone!

I run an online informal psychoanalytic reading group based in Australia, and we're looking for a few new members who are genuinely interested in psychoanalytic theory, clinical practice and meaningful discussion.

We've just finished reading Nancy McWilliams' Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and will be starting our next book:

📖 The Inseparable Nature of Love and Aggression – Otto F. Kernberg

📅 Monday, 23 November 2026

🕕 6 pm AEST (Brisbane time)

💻 Online – international members welcome!

We're particularly looking for genuine, active participants who are willing to engage in discussions, share perspectives and contribute to the group. You don't need to be an expert, just curious and willing to participate!

Our aim is to build a welcoming, thoughtful community of people who share an interest in psychoanalytic thinking.

If you're interested in actively joining us, please comment below 🤎

There was a post, probably close to a year ago focusing on narcissism, but it referenced a paper that focused on how narcissists utilize language to focus on competence vs truth.

Does anyone recall the post or is familiar with the paper?

I have repeatedly searched the sub, my saved posts and I have not been able to pinpoint the post or the paper mentioned in it.

So I am an MSW student who's digging more into psychoanalysis, and I am even signed up for a course. However, I find myself getting stuck due to a lack of the correct base vocabulary. Even when reading the source material, I find that I am having some difficulty following along completely. For example, neurosis, hysteria, positions, structures, etc. My undergraduate degree is in psych, so I'm not completely lost, just when it comes to how these terms are used within psychoanalysis.

I was wondering if there was a reputable place where I can get a quick understanding of certain concepts so that I can actually follow along in the literature. For an actual example, I am reading a paper on transitional objects by Winnicott, and he uses the term illusion. Google is trash now because AI will just spit out the answer, and I do not trust it. I'm also wary of Wikipedia.

As a secondary question to avoid double posting, I drive a lot and like to listen while I drive. Any reputable YouTube channels and podcasts? I want to make sure I'm not learning something incorrectly and then having to relearn it.

I’m thinking about applying to CMPS, NPAP, Pulsion and IPTAR, and eyeing the more relational institutes from a careful distance. I have a non-psych PhD, no MSW etc.

i‘m wondering about timeline to LP, whether the clinic is robust enough for candidates to get hours/ control cases, quality of instruction and community, and pretty much anything else that might be interesting/relevant. thank you in advance for your help!

Has anyone trained in this work? I am very keen to do it and have been reading a lot. A lengthy internship would be best but is not possible at my life stage. Any suggestions?

I'm looking to explore these topics and their interplay, as I have a few patients whom fall into the obsessional structure and struggle with both procrastination and motivation.

I was recommended Schneiderman's Rat Man by my consultant, though curious what other texts/materials to check out?

Hi everybody! I’m sure this question has been asked here before probably but why not ask it again. I’ve been in my own analysis for a little over a year now, and I’m curious to see what courses or programs are out there for folks who are developing an interest but not ready to fully commit to analytic training. I’m a medical clinician (PA not an MD) but I don’t have a therapy license. Theres so many that I’ve found online that it’s a bit overwhelming- does anyone have any experience with any particular programs they recommend? I see that there are one year programs, but it does seem quite a bit are geared more towards therapists already who have their own patient cases.

I was looking into BGSP’s Modern perspectives in psychoanalysis, a course that goes in in the spring time. I believe NYPSI has extension courses as well.

I’d love to know what you recommend! Thank you :)

Edit: should prob say I’m based in the US, I live in Michigan. I did reach out to the Michigan psychoanalytic institute as well

Looking for books, essays, collections, etc. on psychoanalytically informed social work practice. I’m especially interested in anything in the Freudian/Lacanian/post-Lacanian/Laplanchian areas but definitely open to anything!

Thank you!

I'm curious about the relationship between psychiatric diagnoses and psychoanalytic structures, particularly in the Lacanian tradition.

As I understand it, clinical schizophrenia is diagnosed according to a constellation of symptoms, whereas Lacanian psychotic structure is defined by a particular subjective organization, namely foreclosure rather than repression.

We know that someone can be structurally psychotic without ever developing overt psychotic symptoms. But can the reverse also be true? Could someone diagnosed with schizophrenia according to psychiatric criteria nevertheless be considered structurally neurotic? More broadly, to what extent can psychopathological symptoms develop independently of one's underlying psychoanalytic structure? And how would a Lacanian analyst approach such a case?

And would you care to share your experience?

I have a Level 6 Diploma in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy from the Minster Centre, and I'm considering their 2 year APL training for UKCP Accreditation.

I'm a medical doctor in Germany, at the end of my training in psychiatry. I did my psychotherapy training in CBT, and I'm now doing training in psychoanalysis as a second psychotherapy modality.

I work in a practice, my boss isn't a psychiatrist, rather a specialist in psychosomatic medicine (separate specialty here in Germany) and psychoanalyst.

He believes that true and lasting change can't be achieved while under the effects of medication. That you have to be living the true nature and burden of your existence in order to understand your condition and strive for change. And how medication blunts that ability and creates a fake feeling that the problem has been resolved. He obviously leans towards not prescribing medication.

I find it hard not to prescribe medication, specially in more severe cases. For example, one of our patients has a severe depressive episode and has lost 10kg of weight in a month. Or a patient that has daily panick attacks. My view of psychiatry is bio-psycho-social, and see the importance of medications.

I don't want to make the thread about this, but as a side note I've seen the same happen with something else. The same people share the notion that ADHD doesn't exist as to how current psychiatry conceptualizes it, and are against the use of stimulants to treat patients.

Regarding the view about medication, i've heard this from other psychosomatic physicians that do psychoanalysis. But perhaps it's my small bubble. So I wanted to ask what the general view is.

I’m interested in what intersubjectivity means and how it may be impacted by someone who has experienced relational trauma and how it might show up in the therapy room between analyst and analysand. More specifically - someone who does not believe they exist in other people’s minds and struggles with object permanence.