Prohibition (psychoanalysis)

Prohibition (French: interdiction; German: Verbot) in psychoanalysis refers to the symbolic interdiction or forbidding of certain desires and actions, most notably those associated with incestuous and parricidal wishes. It is a central concept in the work of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, shaping the development of the superego, the formation of neurosis, and the organization of the unconscious. In psychoanalytic theory, prohibition does not merely ban behaviour; it structures desire, generates lack, and organizes the subject’s relation to the symbolic order.

Freud: Prohibition and the Oedipus Complex

In Freudian theory, prohibition is closely tied to the Oedipus complex, the constellation of unconscious desires, rivalries, and prohibitions that arise in early childhood. The child’s erotic desire for the opposite‑sex parent and rivalry with the same‑sex parent encounter powerful prohibitions—most importantly, the incest taboo and the fear of castration. These prohibitions become internalized and give rise to the superego, the internal moral agency that both enforces and punishes transgressions of unconscious desire.

In Totem and Taboo (1913), Freud linked the prohibition against incest to a mythical primal horde, in which the sons killed a dominant father figure and then codified the father’s authority as a set of collective prohibitions. These prohibitions, Freud argued, became embedded in the psyche as moral law and became foundational for social organization, neurosis, and the repression of unacceptable wishes.

For Freud, prohibition operates both at the cultural level (taboos and laws) and at the psychological level (superego demands), suppressing instinctual drives while paradoxically intensifying desire by marking it as forbidden.

Lacan: Prohibition and the Law of the Father

Jacques Lacan reinterpreted Freud’s concept of prohibition through his theory of the symbolic order and the Name‑of‑the‑Father (Nom‑du‑Père). For Lacan, the Oedipal prohibition is not simply a set of moral rules, but a structuring function of language and signification that enables the subject’s entry into the symbolic order. The Name‑of‑the‑Father institutes the law of symbolic castration, which prohibits incestuous desire and installs the child into a field of difference and language.

This paternal function introduces a third term into the child’s dyadic relation with the mother. By doing so, Lacan argued, it makes possible the structure of desire, which is always mediated by language and organized around lack. Prohibition thus becomes a defining principle of subjectivity: it does not merely suppress desire but constitutes the conditions for desire to arise.

Prohibition and Desire

In both Freudian and Lacanian frameworks, prohibition does not eliminate desire; rather, it produces and sustains it. Lacan famously stated that "desire is the desire of the Other", meaning that individual desire is shaped by the symbolic mandates of the Other—including prohibitions embedded in language and culture.

The object of desire is always barred, unavailable, or lost, and its very inaccessibility is what gives it value. In this sense, prohibition plays a constitutive role in the economy of desire, organizing fantasies, shaping drives, and structuring the pursuit of jouissance (a form of excessive enjoyment beyond simple pleasure).

Clinical and Cultural Implications

In Psychoanalytic Practice

In clinical settings, prohibitions often emerge through symptoms, obsessions, guilt, and resistance. These manifestations reflect the subject’s conflict with internalized prohibitions—often unconscious—and the ways in which forbidden desires are displaced or transformed. Psychoanalytic treatment seeks to bring such prohibitions and their unconscious effects into the subject’s awareness, enabling a reconfiguration of desire and agency.

In Culture and Society

Beyond the clinic, psychoanalytic theory views cultural prohibitions (such as legal, religious, and moral taboos) as symbolic structures that organize collective desire, identity, and social order. These prohibitions vary across cultural contexts, yet the prohibition of incest retains a central role in structuring both individual subjectivity and social norms.

Prohibition and Transgression

Lacan emphasized that prohibition is inherently linked to transgression. The forbidden act often becomes charged with desire, leading to its repetition in fantasy, symptom, or enactment. From this perspective, transgression is not purely an act of breaking the law but a structural dynamic that sustains the authority of the law by investing it with allure and resistance.

In modern societies that often promote forms of permissiveness, prohibition does not disappear but transforms. Overt bans may give way to implicit injunctions to "enjoy", which operate as new kinds of symbolic constraints and can generate novel forms of psychological conflict.

See Also

• Oedipus complex
• Superego
• Symbolic order
• Castration (psychoanalysis)
• Desire (psychoanalysis)
• Jouissance
• Repression
• Name-of-the-Father