He failed act Is considered from the psychoanalysis, as a production of the unconscious, a means, a channel or way by which it manages to express itself. The failed act is thus the means through which the unconscious manages to reveal the desires that are deposited in him.
Failed acts are also known as lapses, failed operations, slips in speech and / or memory ; Errors that can not be explained by the person who has committed them, since often it is not aware of what has happened.
Those who do perceive it may ask about it, but can not find a logical reason to explain it. This is because the origin of the failed acts comes from the unconscious and, all the content housed there, operates as something inexplicable and contradictory for the conscience.
It is through the psychoanalysis And his technique of Free association , A fundamental rule of this discipline, through which the subject is invited to say everything that passes through his mind as it is manifested, that it will be possible to shed light on what this unconscious truth, manifested in the failed act, can Charge real sense to consciousness.
The term failed act was introduced by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), an Austrian doctor, considered for his knowledge and Works he has written throughout his life , As the father of psychoanalysis. Freud conceptualized the failed act as a manifestation, a saying of the unconscious that conflicts with the conscious intention of the subject, thus generating the symptom. It is through this failed act that an unconscious desire emerges in consciousness.
Freud considers that faulty acts are psychic acts, which are meaning bearers and are intimately connected with two opposing intentions, the conscious and the unconscious.
What is the origin of failed acts?
A desire or intention of the unconscious that has found, through the failed act, a way of communicating. Betraying in this way the conscience that, before its presence is confused or confused. It is then how the subject can meet his own unconscious desire through a failed act. Not knowing anything about it, since his conscious intention had nothing to do with what had happened.
What happens is that, in reality, that intention is own of the subject but appear in principle as hidden for him. It is in this way that the failed acts are manifested as the result of an intentional action of the unconscious, occurring spontaneously and without being controlled by one's own will.
This is why lapses are often called involuntary acts. Since it is not a will coming from the consciousness that operates at the moment of its appearance, but an unconscious intention.
This appears as a contradiction or conflict between the will of these two psychic instances as are the conscience and the unconscious, also presents a dichotomy in its definition, since the failed act is actually an achievement.
This can be understood As the manifestation of a desire lodged in the unconscious, which has overcome the barriers of consciousness, emerging in it. That is, through the failed act is manifesting a desire itself, of an unconscious nature.
These desires have lodged in the unconscious since they have been repressed because their nature bursts into the subject's morality. Being intimately connected with sexual feelings or desires. The content of that desire is rejected by consciousness and thus is lodged in the unconscious.
Through repression, understood as a psychic defense mechanism, which operates at an unconscious level, and has as a final purpose to reject something of consciousness, the subject manages to avoid reliving or remembering unpleasant traumatic situations or generating displeasure. The failed act would then be the return of that repressed thing that bursts into consciousness.
The reasons why the mechanism of repression is set in motion are diverse, but their aim is always the same, to avoid the appearance of feelings such as anguish , Fear, guilt or shame among others, in the subject's consciousness in order to avoid displeasure.
This psychic mechanism is not perfect and therefore can fail in its work. The result of this is the genesis of a failed act.
Types or classes of Failed Acts
There are abundant and diverse ways in which people can commit a failed act. These are present in the everyday life of all people and there are as many ways to reveal themselves as different personalities, ways of speaking, acting and being.
This classification refers to the different ways in which such acts can be presented:
Verbal Manifestations
They refer to expressions produced in speech, from which the subject may or may not become aware at the moment they are put into play.
• To say the opposite of what was meant, represented by the expression contrary to the intention of the subject.
• Errors of pronunciation, even being able to say a non-existent word, thus creating a neologism.
• Replacement of words, when a particular word was meant and replaced by another word.
• Say what consciously was not meant.
Manifestations in reading and writing
Represented by errors when reading and / or writing. These mistakes can be made manifest in conjunction with verbal manifestations.
It may happen that when reading aloud, the subject exchanges a word for another, mispronounces a word or creates a neologism product of the intention to read the right word in combination of a word associated with a thought.
Or at the time of writing, a thought erupts in consciousness and the subject writes a word related to it instead of what he wanted and / or should write.
Hearing Manifestations
They refer to hearing something different from what has been said, not having to do with hearing or hearing problems, but rather having believed to hear something different from what the other person has said.
Usually it happens that the person is convinced that he has heard something that has nothing to do with what that other has said. Or that in trying to consciously associate what will have to see what he heard with what that other person said, abandon that attempt.
Manifestations in memory, forgetfulness
These kinds of manifestations are related to mental gaps, with not remembering. Keeping in mind that what is forgotten is that which is housed in the unconscious, but having been conscious in a previous moment.
Own names, dates, events, words, events or quotes, facts or situations can be forgotten. This type of oblivion has a momentary and transitory character, not being permanent.
Manifestations in the acts
Intimately linked with the loss of objects. This type of failed expression is also conjugated with previous manifestations, since an action is a consequence of at least one thought.
And it is in these that the conflict is first presented, manifested or evidenced by the action or the failed act.
In this way, it is as the unconscious comes to say something, through its own productions, revealing the existence of a hidden thought, intelligible to the naked eye by the subject, but full of meaning.
What is the meaning of failed acts?
The failed act has a particular significance. It has a purpose or sense of its own. A specific goal, a specific intention and a singular meaning. As such, it pursues its own goal by externalizing content, which appears without being able to be deciphered by the speaking subject.
Who has been faced with the realization of an action in principle, meaningless for him. Being this action that bursts into your consciousness, the replacement of the action expected or attempted by that subject.
There are several ways of responding to the question about the meaning of the failed act put into play. Some people immediately relate it to some thoughts they have had previously, thereby trying to make sense of the failed act. Others try to establish hypotheses about why, by inferring associations between developed circumstances and thoughts.
Some people simply do not take notice of what has happened and consequently do not ask about it. But there are also those who deny what happened. They even seem to be angry at it, putting a strong personal interest in the failed act to be meaningless.
It is that in them operates denial, also understood as a Defense mechanism Unconscious, in order to defend himself against any possible association with that memory, thought or event unpleasant for the subject, who unconsciously seems to begin to shed light on that possible connection.
Now, the failed act is not the result of chance, but has an unequivocal sense. No matter what the medium or form of manifestation, its purpose is unique and true.
Breaking into the consciousness with a truth that the subject wants nothing to know. For it is the result of an unconscious manifestation that opens its way in consciousness, creating a conflict between both psychic instances by the confrontation of two different purposes, thus giving rise to a new meaning.
It is then as faulty acts, as formations of the unconscious, comes to reveal one's own truth. It is the unconscious itself that takes the floor, and opens the way to say, finding in the failed act a form, a way, a channel to manifest itself to communicate.
What do the failed acts say?
Failed acts are a saying of the unconscious that comes to reveal a knowledge and a truth that are ignored by the subject. Since this truth has been repressed, it is through the failed act as a means of expression, that confronts the conscience and confronts the subject with a knowledge of which nothing wants to know.
Thus becoming the equivalent of a symptom by the formation of compromise between the conscious intention of the subject and his unconscious desire, which has been repressed and appears transformed into consciousness by the presence of the failed act. This is then understood as a symptom, and as such, a covert realization of unconscious desires.
Now, the presence of the analyst is necessary, who from his practice, through analysis, can help the subject to make comprehensible everything previously ignored by him; Making the unconscious conscious and thus solving the contradiction put into play about the conscious knowledge of the subject and his unconscious knowledge, which has broken with the barriers of repression and thus managed to put into play that truth until then unknown .
It is through the patient-analyst dyad that the conflict between the conscience and the repressed in the unconscious can be resolved, being able to respond on what the failed act came to say.
The only possible way to know our unconscious desires is psychoanalysis. Which, through the analysis and interpretation of the words present in the subject's discourse, manages to solve the psychic mysteries hidden behind the physical symptoms.
Working with the sense of the unconscious processes that are behind them and being able to establish their relationship with the life of the subject in question.
Here is the importance of listening to the failed act, because they have something to say. They come to provide information about our unconscious desires.
References
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- Michael Sherwood. (2010). The Logic of Explanation in Psychoanalysis.
- Petros Patounas. (2014). The Psychoanalytic Act: On the formation of the No Body.
- Roback, A.A. (1919). The Freudian Doctrine of Lapses and Its Failings. The American Journal of Psychology.
- Roberto Harari. (2004). Lacan's Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis: An Introduction.
- Ruth Golan. (2006). Loving Psychoanalysis: Looking at Culture whit Freud and Lacan.
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