Barry O’Donnell – Towards the Difference between Neurosis and Psychosis
 
Issue 40 (Spring 2009) Pages-43-57
 
This paper recommends that clinicians attempting to differentiate the structures of neurosis and psychosis take account of Freud’s thinking on the mental act of negation, based on his clinical practice, as well as Jacques Lacan’s development of Freud’s conception. The author argues that this is essential for any diagnosis which invokes the notion of a loss o f a sense of reality.
 
If in recent years, in other discourses, there has been a loss of confidence in the terms “neurosis” and “psychosis”, their differentiation remains crucial to psychoanalytic practice…..