Lacanian Psychoanalysis in Berlin
This January, I am delighted and honored to host Peter Jansson in Berlin. Over three events, we will explore cinema, psychoanalysis, and philosophy through a shared question. What can film show us when words fail. In this small series we will move from clinical practice, to theory, to an open public encounter with film. No… Continue reading Cinema, Silence, and the Real. Three Events with Peter Jansson in Berlin
In analytic work one often encounters subjects who speak with ease. They reflect, explain, analyse, and articulate their condition with clarity. They can recount their history, describe their relations to others, and situate their difficulties within family, society, or their cultural context. At first sight, this capacity for speech may appear aligned with the aims… Continue reading When Reflection Does Not Implicate
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.
Leon Brenner 