Keywords
Abstract
Lacan’s theory of psychosis hinges on a misunderstanding of the notion of Verwerfung, which Freud develops in the clinical cases of the Wolf Man and of President Schreber.
Lacan posits that Verwerfung, which he translates as forclusion, is a constituent element in the process of psychosis, but he describes it as a notion that has nothing to do with the
process of repression, and that is actually alternative to it. According to Freud, in contrast, Verwerfung, far from being unrelated to repression, is instead a moment that precedes and
causes secondary repression; therefore, it is integral to the dynamics of that. This divergence however reveals Lacan’s broader misunderstanding of the notion of repression; a
misunderstanding that is especially problematic, since it concerns one of the fundamental notions in psychoanalysis.