Del síntoma al sinthome

Abstract

Currently, the concept of symptom is based on the notion of singularity (from a base perspective, underlined by Freud, regarding the persistence of symptomatic residue). This indicates that the demise of the symptom will never be complete, since the demand drive will always persist and will not cease to search for satisfaction.Let us then, insist on this matter, on the existence of an incurable residue in the symptom (which entails a particular relationship between the subject and its own pleasure), resisting sense and interpretation. The following paper has been elaborated following a diachronic trajectory of psychoanalytic theory, which allows establishing pauses, outlining the most important shifts produced in Freudian and Lacanian elaborations, respectively. Starting from Freud‘s productions, as main fulcrum, the Lacanian approach of the symptom will be introduced to link to the proposal of the sinthome proposed by Lacan. Freud will explain symptoms through the theory of trauma; those will find themselves hinged on mnemic traces, which will make the analysis of the patient‘s produced associations a crucial activity, to comprehend the etiology of the symptoms and the development of the cure. The clinical practice of this period may be summarized as ―the unconscious is susceptible to become conscious‖, aiming to the discovery and/or decoding of the symptoms, as long as they carry meaning. All of this at the same time, will be the base of future elaborations...