The Ethics of Desire in the Direction of the Treatment

The ethics of desire in the direction of the treatment

This session of the seminar will discuss the ethical orientation on the side of the psychoanalyst which allows them to sustain the analytic situation. The main questions that will orient this discussion are: How not to reduce the praxis of psychoanalysis to an exercise of power? What to do in face of the questions raised to the psychoanalyst’s being in the conduction of the treatment? Interpretation versus suggestion: how to point to the analysand’s desire instead of directing their consciousness? How to respond to the analysand’s demands taking transference into account?

Lacan, Jacques. “The Direction of the Treatment and the Principals of its Power.” In: Écrits. New York, 2006: Norton & Company, Inc. pp. 489-491.