Psychoanalysis and Philosophy in Berlin
The text discusses the motivations behind becoming a psychoanalyst, emphasizing that intentions of healing and understanding typically stem from fantasy, which misaligns with the true role of an analyst. It argues that actual desire for analysis emerges only through personal analytic experience, leading to a novel relation to suffering and desire, independent of moral goals.
Lacan reminds us: love is not necessarily mutual. In analysis, it is the patient who loves, and the analyst who listens. This non-reciprocal love—far from being cold—is what makes psychoanalysis possible. Only by refusing to mirror love can the analyst help transform it, rather than dissolve it.
I’m thrilled to share the release of my new pamphlet with Everyday Analysis, titled "Against Reality.” You can buy it in digital or printed format here. One of the most common misuses of Freud’s notion of the “reality principle” is confusing it with the adaptation of the patient to reality. In doing so, many psychoanalysts… Continue reading Against Reality – A New Pamphlet with Everyday Analysis
I am excited to announce that I will be conducting a three-hour workshop on “Working with Neurodiversity” as part of the Program of Continuing Studies (PCS) at the Freud Lacan Institute in Dublin. 📅 Date: Saturday, June 15⏰ Time: 10:00 - 13:30 Dublin-GMT📍 Location: In-Person and via Zoom The Freud Lacan Institute is a fantastic Dublin-based initiative dedicated… Continue reading Working with Neurodiversity: Freud Lacan Institute Workshop in Dublin
Next week marks the beginning of an extensive seminar on clinical structures in psychoanalysis, a collaboration with Theory Underground. I am very excited about this project, which is designed to distinguish itself both in form and content. I am particularly looking forward to working closely with Dave from Theory Underground. Dave will be assisting me… Continue reading Extensive Seminar on the Clinical Structures
I extend a warm invitation to join my five-part seminar with Parrhesia Berlin taking place in-person and online every week on Wednesdays at 7pm, starting this week. 5 Wednesdays - October 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, 7- 9 pm Where: Gerichtstrasse 45, 13347 Berlin-Wedding or Zoom. For tickets. Jacques Lacan, a luminary in the… Continue reading The Psychoanalytic Act in Five Acts: The Direction of Treatment for Lacan
I want to invite you to join my 5-week workshop at Parrhesia Berlin titled 'Foucault and Derrida in Couples Therapy with Freud'. We start Tuesday Oct 18 and continue weekly until Nov 15, online (Zoom) and in-person (Berlin). In the workshop we will discuss key factors in Foucault and Derrida’s long polemical argument over the… Continue reading Workshop: Foucault and Derrida in Couples Therapy with Freud
I had a wonderful time giving a talk at Lacan in Scotland this month. Not only was it an opportunity to discuss some of my latest theoretical developments, I also very much enjoyed the questions and debate that followed. Lacan in Scotland provides opportunities for engaging with Lacanian psychoanalysis and related theories in Scotland. It… Continue reading Video Out: The Dermic Drive
My latest paper on the mirror stage in autism has just been published in the Theory & Psychology Journal. The mirror stage is one of Lacan’s most well-received metapsychological models in the English-speaking world. In it's many versions, it comes to elucidate the different forms of identification that lead to the construction of the Freudian… Continue reading Published: The Autistic Mirror in the Real
One of the most common polemics against Lacan's teaching concerns his style. And indeed, there are many things to say about Lacan's pedagogical approach. One thing is that its performativity makes reading the transcription of Lacan's seminars very difficult. When sitting in his seminar, a smile, a shout, a hand gesture, all could contextualize what… Continue reading Lacan’s Janusism and the Deaf Cricket
Leon Brenner 