BLACK, ALISTAIR. (2018). 'Happiness and the end of psychoanalysis'. Journal of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research (JCFAR), 28, 15-37.

摘要

In this article, Alistair Black, a Lacanian psychoanalyst, reflects on the fate of psychoanalysis in a cultural, economic and political environment saturated by 'mental health discourse' and neoliberal market economics. He contends that contemporary concepts of happiness, mental health and economic competition have fundamentally changed our understanding of 'the essence of human existence and of human suffering itself' (p. 18). This constitutes a fundamental challenge to psychoanalysis which 'is not primarily concerned with the removal of symptoms and promoting "happiness", but with an exploration of human life and suffering, its limitations, possibilities and impossibilities' (p. 25). As editor of this journal, Black describes his own article as a 'diatribe' in his editorial for this issue. While the article conveys passion and anger, it also sets out with some clarity problems that are disturbing for many psychotherapists.