Jouissance is one of the most significant, and particular, concepts in Lacanian psychoanalysis. It designates a traumatic excess of enjoyment which may not be experienced as such. Whereas affects (perhaps apart from anxiety) manifest as the effect of the symbolic, jouissance indicates the irruption of the real that drives a hole in the symbolic. However, this concept is not without controversy. Notably, Darian Leader has criticized the Lacanian deployment of jouissance as a reductive catch-all for any affective or bodily experience that shuts down more nuanced clinical and theoretical thinking.

In this talk, John will discuss how jouissance can be conceptualized in Lacanian neuropsychoanalytic terms. He will discuss how the structural (innate) conflict between basic emotions results in an irreducible surplus of (non-representational) affect which cannot be completely resolved by the ego. This surplus of affect operates not in the predictable space of homeostasis but in the space where homeostasis fails. The felt surplus of affect can be linked to jouissance.

He will show how this Lacanian neuropsychoanalytic view of jouissance complements, contrasts with, and responds to contemporary critiques. Specifically, jouissance cannot be reduced to a single system: there is a multiplicity of differential emotions. However, this structural antagonism requires that one retain the “logic” of jouissance which can emerge in any basic emotion. Integrating neuroscience with Lacanian psychoanalysis enriches the conceptual rigor of jouissance. On the other hand, retaining the idea of jouissance prevents a simple homeostatic interpretation of basic emotions in affective neuroscience and neuropsychoanalysis. Clinical examples will illustrate the ideas presented here.

Bio: John Dall’Aglio is a PhD student in clinical psychology at Duquesne University. His research and clinical scholarship focuses on the intersection of psychoanalysis and neuroscience, especially Lacanian neuropsychoanalysis. He also teaches neuropsychoanalysis in undergraduate courses. He has written several articles in this area and is the author of the forthcoming book A Lacanian Neuropsychoanalysis: Consciousness Enjoying Uncertainty (Palgrave). He is the winner of the 2021 New Author Prize from the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association.