[The-Lacanalyst] A theoretical an practical questioning

[Tate]

Dear Jacques and Folks,

When you ask in your last missive:

> My first question is
> can you be sued? due to the fact you, when you are in your office,
> try to cure people and have got a license to do so.

I think these types of scenarios and questions avoid what is fundamental in establishing
a place and responsibility for a psychoanalytic act. Furthermore, when you write:

> I imagine (and hope) that you can argue that what happened that evening 
> was totally
> PRIVATE and was independent of your profession.
> 
> In France situation of psychoanalysis is close to this one, it is a PRIVATE
> relationship between two humans.

I do not think the problem is there. It is not a question of nationality, or a private/public concern –
 if it were, then it would be just a question of comparing different legislatures and cultures, then
asking what we can do, as good boys and girl Scouts, to manage the psychoanalytic setting
in our different cultures and countries.

So, here is my question instead: what are those universals of analytic practice that do not
devolve into management practices and cultural relativity? What is it to found
a practice of analysis not to manage it? In fact, we may just start by asking, ‘What is a universal?’
(since so many do not have the least grasp of the problem logically).

If these types of questions are not asked (forget responding to), then all the management and cultural
questions can be exhausted, and there will still be no place for analysis: only ‘wild analysis’ where
the analytic association and therapists have admitted into their clinic the very symptoms
they are trying to treat. Indeed, I know many neo-post Lacanian associations and analysts in France that,
even with a better cultural ‘climate’, are still under an analytic transfer, with no analysis ( = wild analysis).

Truly,

Scully-Robert








> On Nov 25, 2025, at 9:50 AM, Aviva Euripides <avivaeuripides1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Yes to meeting the 5th at the proposed time, looking forward to it. 
> 
> Aviva Euripides
> LMFT, Topologos Lutecium
> 415-301-5219
> avivaeuripides1 at gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 7:51 AM Jacques B. Siboni via The-lacanalyst <the-lacanalyst at lutecium.org> wrote:
> Dear friends and colleagues
> 
> I had a very interesting discussion with Aviva, which pinpointed
> the major differences between psychoanalysis in France and the USA.
> 
> I wish to have you opinion on this.
> Let's put it this way, you are licensed by the state as psychiatrist,
> psychologist, social worker etc. You spend the evening with a very good
> friend of yours and he says he cannot carry on and he is going to kill
> himself. You do your best to help him change his mind and you go to
> sleep without telling anyone. The next
> morning you hear he is dead, unfortunately. My first question is
> can you be sued? due to the fact you, when you are in your office,
> try to cure people and have got a license to do so.
> 
> I imagine (and hope) that you can argue that what happened that evening 
> was totally
> PRIVATE and was independent of your profession.
> 
> In France situation of psychoanalysis is close to this one, it is a PRIVATE
> relationship between two humans. I mean, not only in the evening but in your
> office as well. No one has the right to intermix with it.
> There is an analyst and an analysand who agree to use a certain apparatus
> aimed to facilitate a work of speech (Freudian talking cure). The fact that
> you might be a licensed psychologist
> or psychotherapist of psychiatrist does not make a difference as long as
> the process with your analysand is analytic and not therapeutic. We know
> some people did kill themselves when in analysis with Lacan or other
> analysts but of course they were not sued.
> 
> When we talk about lacanalysis we mean this. Because Aviva says that 
> even in the
> case of a private practice with a patient she can be sued. Of course in
> the regard of psychoanalysis it is a nonsense.
> 
> I'd love to have your vision of this scheme as it seems to be a thorn in the
> side of psychoanalysis in your country.
> 
> All the very best
> 
> Jacques
> 
> PS can you meet on Friday 5 at 1400 UTC?
> 
> 
> -- 
> The-lacanalyst mailing list
> The-lacanalyst at lutecium.org
> https://lutecium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/the-lacanalyst
> -- 
> The-lacanalyst mailing list
> The-lacanalyst at lutecium.org
> https://lutecium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/the-lacanalyst