{"id":565,"date":"2020-03-28T20:34:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T19:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/18.185.92.33\/?p=565"},"modified":"2025-07-02T14:59:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T12:59:27","slug":"closer-to-your-own-idea-of-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/complicated.life\/blog\/closer-to-your-own-idea-of-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Closer To Your Own Idea of Good with Lacanian Psychoanalysis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An approach to Lacanian ethics in psychotherapy  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvil lives off a certain idea of good\u201d (Carmen Gonzalez Tabaos, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your idea of Good? Where do you find \u201cGood\u201d? And is this, in fact, the only question that psychoanalysis is allowed to ask?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is something fundamental that Lacan<\/a> says: We do not work with the logic of intention (or what’s best for someone). We work with the logic of consequences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what are the consequences of living in a certain way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And just like that, we are talking about ethics in psychoanalysis: there is no fundamental Good, neither is there a recipe on how to be happy. But we have the possibility of taking the way we live and the consequences of our actions seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the therapy room, I work with individuals each living in a subjective and therefore particular and unique way. This unique way might be influenced by many different factors. Sometimes outside factors can pressure people into certain actions and decisions. For example – \u201cwhat society thinks that someone of your age needs to accomplish \u201d, \u201cwhat your religion commands you to do\u201d, \u201c what your parents ask you to do or be\u201d. \u201c <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideas of Good and how to live, sometimes come primarily from the outside world or from your loved ones. Then it can happen that you find yourself living under ideas that are not aligned with you anymore, and not making you comfortable or happy. Also, other people\u2019s ideas about how you\u2019re supposed to live can influence the smallest decisions without you noticing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a client was feeling really anxious while saying, \u201cI have to do the right thing\u201d. I asked:\u201d Why are you living in a dual world of just right and wrong?\u201d This had to do with a long history of being taught that in life there is just one way of doing things: the right way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had another client who had spent months making a list of \u201cpros\u201d and \u201ccons\u201d regarding a guy she was dating. One day she found herself remembering that her mother always said to her: \u201cyou need to find the right guy\u201d, which illuminated why she spent all that time analyzing him without first questioning the concept of \u201ca right guy\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elegant
As a Lacanian psychoanalyst, I try to explore my client\u2019s willingness to open themselves to those fundamental questions. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These are examples of how outside pressure can make us avoid the important question: What is my idea of Good? And the beauty of this question is that there are as many answers as people in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lacanian psychoanalysis and ethic works with absolute respect for singularity. That is why directions of treatment are never the same, but rather depend on the simple fact that each individual is considered unique in their singularity. For example, I can receive two people who both experiences having panic attacks. But my approach is different in each case. The physiological symptoms in a panic attack might be similar, but the origin and reason are not the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This respect for singularity is the opposite of what happens in medicine. Doctors check your symptoms, give you a diagnosis and a pre-existing treatment to cure not just you but also everyone else with the same symptoms. In psychoanalysis, it is important to never \u201cput someone in a box\u201d and never leave out the singular experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clinical Listening and Interpretations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the therapy room, we have two important tools operating within this ethic: clinical listening and interpretations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The listening in Lacanian psychoanalysis is empty of judgment. Not having prejudices about your client enables you to focus on the most important thing: the singularity of your client. What is the key? Not making assumptions, and being able to keep an open mind when hearing your client\u2019s stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analytical device looks to offer a different level of understanding about yourself. In order for this to happen it\u2019s important to build curiosity about why things are the way they are. In a way, it takes you out of your comfort zone, because not knowing sometimes is easier. Curiosity will keep work going, session after session. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads to the possibility of asking another fundamental question: Why does this happen to me? Is it \u201cbad luck\u201d? Or is it something deeper in which I am involved?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a simple example: During the first session, a client told me that she always changes her therapist after one year. After a year she feels that her therapists start focusing on subjects that she doesn’t want to. I asked her if this happened always after the same amount of time. She immediately replied, \u201cyes, so maybe I am the problem\u201d. I certainly don’t believe \u201cshe is the problem\u201d but the idea of having something to do with a situation that repeats itself year after year is a point of departure for self-exploration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Lacanian psychoanalytic interpretations aren’t made to be \u201cunderstood”, rather to provoke movement and generate ways out of determination. Sometimes this can be as simple as asking a question. In my analytical experience (and as someone who does psychoanalytic treatment herself)  I see it as being offered alternative points of view so I can see myself in a clearer way. It offers not an explanation of \u201chow you work\u201d but gives insight into the singular way you experience things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually,  the difficult work of questioning will have its results. Hopefully, you will develop a frame of reference that wasn’t there before: On how to react, how to decide, how to live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Lacanian psychoanalyst, I try to explore my client\u2019s willingness to open themselves to those fundamental questions. Sometimes it\u2019s as simple as this: The younger you are the less difficult it becomes. But even for young ones, it is not an easy task. Either way, my job is to accompany them on their journey to asking these questions. So they can start to build new ideas of a life that is closer to their own idea of Good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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