The body in hypochondria: a Lacanian perspective

Date

2025-01-01

Author

Bulut, Burcu Pınar
Bozo Özen, Özlem

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‘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.

Subject Keywords

anxiety, body, Freud, Hypochondria, Lacan

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https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85215109936&origin=inward
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/113627

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Department of Psychology, Article