Casey Butcher
Private Practice
Seminar
·
Private
Sounding Out the Signifier: Lacan, Freud, and the Rat Man
Faculty
John Kreitzberg
Private Practice
About
In this seminar, we will revisit Freud’s writing on his clinical work with Ernst Lanzer, a.k.a. The Rat Man, through the lens of Lacan’s theoretical elaboration of the case in “The Neurotic’s Individual Myth.” Further readings will bring to the fore the centrality of the signifier and the punning of reason in Lacanian clinical psychoanalysis and highlight this dimension of Freud’s own practice. We’ll explore psychoanalytic structural psychodiagnostics with an emphasis on the differential diagnosis between hysterical and obsessional neurosis, engage with a recent case history that shares some of the features of the Rat Man case, and explore the aim or ends of analysis as conceptualized by Lacan.
Our aim is to demystify and spark interest in Lacanian psychoanalytic practice and invite participants to consider how this tradition may inform their own. Toward this end, in addition to guided discussion of assigned readings, participants will be encouraged to share and discuss clinical work in relation to the material we read. As a condition of joining the seminar everyone will sign a confidentiality agreement. This seminar is limited to 12 participants.
Readings
- Freud, S. Notes Upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis (1909) and other selections from The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Ed. James Strachey.
- Gessert, A. “What We Can Still Learn from the Rat Man” in Freud’s Principle Case Studies Revisited (2025). Eds. Helena Texier and Eve Watson. Routledge, (99-108).
- Lacan, J. Selections from Écrits: The First Complete Edition in English (2006). Trans. Bruce Fink. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Lacan, J. “The Neurotic's Individual Myth,” Trans. Martha Noel Evans. Psychoanalytic Quarterly (1979), vol. 48. Routledge, (pp.405-425).
- Lévi-Strauss, C. Selections from Structural Anthropology (1963). Trans. Claire Jacobson and Brooke Grundfest Schoepf. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
- de Saussure, F. Selections from Course in General Linguistics (1915). Trans. Roy Harris. Chicago: Open Court Classics.
- Rogers, Annie. “Surprising Sounds” in The Unsayable (2007). New York: Ballantine Books, (pp. 97-210).
- Verhaeghe, Paul. Selections from On Being Normal and Other Disorders: A Manual for Clinical Pscyhodiagnostics (2004). Trans. Sigi Jottkandt. New York: Other Press.
- Further readings will be added from time to time throughout the year.
In person
Philadelphia, PA (TBD)
Questions: butcher.casey@gmail.com & jkreitzbergpsych@gmail.com
Schedule
First Saturday of the month, September 2026-May 2027, 11am-1pm EST. January meeting will instead be held on 1/9/27 and May meeting will be held on 5/8/27. In person in Philadelphia, PA; exact location TBD.
Next sessions
- #1 – · Philadelphia, PA (TBD)
- #2 – · Philadelphia, PA (TBD)
- #3 – · Philadelphia, PA (TBD)
All 9 sessions
| # | Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 2 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 3 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 4 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 5 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 6 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 7 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 8 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) | |
| 9 | – | Philadelphia, PA (TBD) |
Fee
$500 or LSP tuition.
| Audience | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| All | $500.00 | Included in tuition for tuition-paying members. |