Lacan on Depression and Melancholia

Derek Hook is an Associate Professor of Psychology and a clinical supervisor at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA, and a Extraordinary Professor of Psychology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.Stijn Vanheule is a clinical psychologist and a Professor of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Psychology at Ghent University, Belgium. He is also a privately practicing psychoanalyst and a member of the New Lacanian School for Psychoanalysis.

• List of contributorsIntroduction: The failings of depression - A Lacanian orientationDerek Hook and Stijn Vanheule Depression reconsidered: The well-spoken, neurotic conflicts, and desire Stephanie Swales In between the signifier and the Real: On depressive experiencesStijn Vanheule Forgetting and rememberingRussell Grigg Some thoughts on Mourning and MelancholiaDarian Leader Conceptualizing and treating (manic-depressive) psychosis: A Lacanian perspective Stijn Vanheule Maneuvers of transference in psychosis: A case study of melancholia from a Lacanian perspectiveJoachim Cauwe and Stijn Vanheule The complex of melancholiaDerek Hook Susan Stern: ShamGeneviève Morel Excessive creativity in melancholiaLeon S. Brenner Dressing up the death drive: Mourning as a defense against melancholiaJamieson Webster and Patricia Gherovici The specificity of manic-depressive psychosisDarian Leader Depression screening as the latest avatar of moralism in American public healthThomas Svolos

"The question of depression, so ubiquitous is its reach, is one which the Lacanian field cannot ignore. And yet, given the relatively recent widespread deployment of the term, it is not one about which Lacan has much directly to say. The lack of an obvious purchase point in Lacan’s work does not, however, mean a lack of purchase points. It, rather, means the necessity of excavating, synthesizing and extending different aspects of Lacan’s thinking to bring it to bear on what is, or has become, an avoidable mode of suffering. This invaluable collection brings together the best of those who have undertaken this endeavour to shine a light on what can be, and what needs to be, said about depression from a Lacanian orientation, demonstrating irrefutably not only that Lacan can help us think through the aporia of depression but also that the very conception of what might be depression is brought into productive relief through this thinking. This is an indispensable collection for anyone interested in depression and its relation to the Freudian concept of melancholia, and one that should rightly be taken a launch pad for essential work to come." - Calum Neill, Professor of Psychoanalysis & Cultural Theory and author of Lacanian Ethics and the Assumption of Subjectivity)"Written by trusted names in the field, this collection offers a uniquely Lacanian perspective on depression and melancholia, exploring the difference that a Lacanian approach offers both in understanding etiology and cure. The texts offer subtle clinical and theoretical explorations, offering something to the clinician and scholar, student and professional alike." - Kristen Hennessy, Psychotherapist"This book explores a much needed area in psychoanalytic clinical and theoretical literature, addressing depression, mourning and melancholia in clinical settings. Hook and Vanheule’s edited collection links conceptual rigor in terms of Freudian-Lacanian psychoanalytic thought with contemporary clinical reality, addressing the failure of a culture that biologizes human suffering and is over-reliant on psychopharmacological and behavior-based methods of treatment. Contributors to this volume think through both psychoanalytic history and our current moment, which itself is historicized, addressing the deterioration of speech and conversation, while enlarging and elaborating important clinical concepts and applications. In so doing, this book creates a social bond between clinicians, scholars, laypeople and those who engage in treatment, providing a cultural critique of the failure of identificatory bonds in a society hell bent on identity as a solution to existence. Melancholia is no longer restricted to "an illness" to cure, but a potential mode of subjective response recalling death to a ferocious social demand for limitless productivity and connectivity." - Manya Steinkoler and Vanessa Sinclair, Psychoanalysts "Today’s predominant socio-medical discourse aims to reduce intrapsychic conflict and suffering into an orderly diagnostic list of Disorders. Vague catch-all terms like depression lure in those craving the latest evidence-based quick-fix. This book, comprising papers by eminent Lacanian thinkers, promises no quick-fixes. Instead, it questions and critiques this discourse, reminding us that subjective complexity cannot be wished away by statistic conformity to some imaginary conflict-free Order. Highly recommended." - Christos Tombras, Supervising Psychoanalyst, London, "In our contemporary world, depression is a substantial clinical problem. Yet, its conceptualization is vague, which is a crucial part of the problem. In this volume Hook and Vanheule collect papers that provide a refreshing Lacanian reading of depressive suffering, discussing how it takes shape in psychosis and neurosis, and how it reflects a specific position towards speaking, transference and the drive." - Paul Verhaeghe, Psychoanalyst