Hyp-Knot-Ism Of The Obsessional Symptom In Analysis

If the structure we work in is a knot, as proposed by Lacan,[1] then what does it knot? To answer this, the first reference is Freud's early work on the primary symptom. In The Neuroses of Defence,[2] Freud proposes a primary level of symptom corresponding only to defence, and not to the compromise structure of the neurotic symptom proper. This symptom is not a return of the repressed, but the 'normal trend towards defence' which brings about the first repression.…