This paper describes in what way Jacques Lacan opens a new path to approach the mystical experience in the light of psychoanalysis. The French master compares the path of the analyst to the one undertaken by the mystic and thus goes against the trends in the fields of psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis that pathologized this phenomenon at that time and reduced it to hysterical or psychotic symptomatology. Lacan also draws an intimate connection between the goal of the analysis and the achievement of an opening to the feminine field. Following the path suggested by this author, we suggest distinguishing the notions of Other jouissance and jouissance of the Other, providing elements for a differential diagnosis between mystical experience (marked by desubjectification) and psychotic outbreak (marked by subjective annihilation).
Key words:
Jacques Lacan; mystical experience; psychoanalysis; jouissance
