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− | The concept of [[adaptation]] is a [[biology|biological]] [[:category:concepts|concept]].
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− | Organisms are supposed to be driven to [[adapt]] themselves to fit the environment.
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− | [[Adaptation]] implies a harmonious relation between the ''Innenwelt'' (inner world) and ''Umwelt'' (surrounding world).
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− | ==Ego-psychology==
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− | [[Ego-psychology]] applies the [[biological]] concept of [[adaptation]] to [[psychoanalysis]]., explaining [[neurotic]] [[symptom]]s in terms of [[maladaptive]] [[behavior]] (such as applying archaic defense mechanisms in contexts where they are no longer appropriate) and arguing that the aim of [[psychoanalytic treatment]] is to help the [[patient]] [[adapt]] to [[reality]].
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− | [[Ego-psychology]] explain [[neurotic]] [[symptom]]s in terms of maladaptive [[behaviour]].
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− | [[Ego-psychology]] argues that the aim of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is to help the [[patient]] adapt to [[reality]].
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− | ==Jacques Lacan==
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− | From his early work in the 1930s on, [[Lacan]] opposes any attempt to explain human phenomena in terms of [[adaptation]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.158; {{Ec}} p.171-2</ref>
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− | This forms a constant theme in [[Lacan]]'s work; in 1955, for example, he states that "the dimension discovered by analysis is the opposite of anything which progresses through adaptation."<ref>{{S2}} p.86</ref>
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− | He takes this view for several reasons:
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− | ===One===
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− | The stress on the adaptive function of the [[ego]] misses the [[ego]]'s [[alienating]] function and is based on a simplistic and unproblematic view of '[[reality]]'.
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− | Reality is not a simple, objective thing to which the ego must adapt, but is itself a product of the ego's fictional misrepresentations and projections.
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− | Therefore "it is not a question of adapting to it [reality], but of showing it [the ego] that it is only too well adapted, since it assists in the construction of that very reality."<ref>{{E}} p.236</ref>
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− | The task of [[psychoanalysis]] is rather to subvert the [[illusory]] sense of [[adaptation]], since this blocks access to the [[unconscious]].
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− | ===Two===
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− | To set [[adaptation]] as the [[aim]] of the [[treatment]] is to turn the [[analyst]] into the arbiter of the [[patient]]'s [[adaptation]].
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− | The [[analyst]]'s own "relation to reality thus goes without saying."<ref>{{E}} p.230</ref>
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− | It is automatically assumed that the [[analyst]] is better adapted than the [[patient]].
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− | This inevitably turns [[psychoanalysis]] into the exercise of [[power]], in which the [[analyst]] forces his own particular view of
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− | [[reality]] onto the [[patient]]; this is not [[psychoanalysis]] but [[suggestion]].
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− | ===Three===
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− | The idea of [[harmony]] between the organism and its environment, implicit in the concept of [[adaptation]], is inapplicable to human beings because man's inscription in the [[symbolic]] [[order]] de-naturalises him and means that 'in man the [[imaginary]] relation [to nature] has deviated'.
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− | Any attempt to regain [[harmony]] with [[nature]] overlooks the essentially excessive [[drive]] potential summed up in the [[death drive]].
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− | Human beings are essentially [[maladaptive]].
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− | --
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− | [[Lacan]] argues that the stress put by [[ego-psychology]] on the [[adaptation]] of the [[patient]] to [[reality]] reduces [[psychoanalysis]] to an instrument of social control and conformity.
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− | He sees this as a complete betrayal of [[psychoanalysis]], which he regards as an essentially subversive [[practice]].
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− | --
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− | [[Lacan]] regards it as significant that the [[adaptation]] theme was developed by the European psychoanalysts who had emigrated to the USA in the late 1930s.
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− | These analysts felt not only that they had to adapt to life in the USA, but also that they ahd to adapt psychoanalysis to American tastes.<ref>{{E}} p.115</ref>
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− | ==See Also==
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− | * [[Biology]]
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− | * [[Gap]]
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− | * [[Suggestion]]
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− | ==References==
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− | <references/>
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− | [[Category:Dictionary]]
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− | [[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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− | [[Category:Sigmund Freud]]
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− | [[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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− | [[Category:Imaginary]]
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− | [[Category:Concepts]]
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− | [[Category:Terms]]
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