The body in hypochondria: a Lacanian perspective

Bulut B. P., Bozo Ö.

PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY, 2025 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Derleme
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/02668734.2024.2440857
  • Dergi Adı: PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Psycinfo, Social services abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: anxiety, body, Freud, Hypochondria, Lacan
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

'Body' has an essential role in understanding hypochondria in the psychoanalytic approach. As in Freud's point of view, Lacan argued that the subject's relation to his/her body is not a pre-given; in the beginning, there is no psychic representation of the body. The medical approach evaluates the symptomatic body as the biological body; nevertheless, it is the body incorporating the language order. Hence, hypochondriac symptoms in a neurotic individual are not based on the biology itself but his/her own 'understanding' of the biological anatomy. In this essay, it is posited that there is a dialectic relationship between mind and body by describing Lacan's ideas on the body in hypochondria, a condition currently referred to as health anxiety. Lacan's perspective on the body enables us to rethink hypochondria more dynamically and interactively by moving beyond binary oppositions.