Citation

Watson J. Br. J. Psychother. 2017; 33(1): 77-92.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/bjp.12257

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Writing as an analysand I argue that without psychoanalytic support psychotic signification may retain the incomprehensibility of a private language destined never to be understood. Using Lacan's (over-quoted) belief that ?the unconscious is structured like a language?, I show how his concept of ?master signifiers?, when applied to the/my unconscious, read by metaphor and metonymy, is particularly helpful in understanding the apparently unintelligible ?language? of psychosis. Drawing on my own psychotic material, with reference to a specific ?master signifier? in one of my psychotic episodes, I also begin to explore the challenges that the solipsism of psychotic signification presents in the therapeutic relationship.

Keywords

Lacan; Metaphor; Metonymy; Philosophy; Psychoanalysis; Psychosis; Trauma