THE LACANIAN CLINIC
A Seminar Series on Fundamental Lacanian Concepts
For Psychologists, Psychoanalysts, Psychotherapists, Psychiatrists, Medical Doctors, and for
individuals seeking a greater understanding of the unconscious dimensions of their
experience.
General Description:
This advanced seminar series offers a systematic exploration of fundamental Lacanian
concepts and their clinical implications within contemporary psychoanalytic practice.
Designed for individuals wishing to deepen their understanding of themselves as a
complement to their own psychoanalytic work, as well as for psychologists, psychoanalysts,
psychotherapists, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, and medical practitioners
interested in psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice, this series offers a clinically
grounded and theoretically rigorous introduction to the fundamental concepts of Lacanian
psychoanalysis. Participants will engage with key Lacanian terms and ideas through the lens
of clinical experience, developing both conceptual clarity and practical insight into their
application.
Rather than presenting Lacanian theory as abstract philosophy, the seminars focus on how
Lacanian concepts operate within the analytic clinic, psychopathology, transference,
diagnosis, interpretation, subjectivity, desire, and contemporary forms of suffering.
Each seminar is devoted to one major Lacanian term or conceptual field and combines:
theoretical elaboration
clinical examples
conceptual clarification
and discussion of contemporary clinical relevance
The overall aim of the series is to help clinicians deepen their understanding of
psychoanalytic practice while developing greater precision in clinical listening, diagnosis,
interpretation, and case formulation.
Seminar Structure:
Frequency: once monthly (at Wednesdays at 6:30 pm Cyprus’ time, at the first
Wednesday of each month)
Duration: 1 hour per session
Format: Online live seminar (ZOOM platform)
Language: English
Participation: includes discussion and Q&A
Seminar Fee:
€50 per month, per participant
Includes:
A live seminar per month
Access to seminar participation
Conceptual and clinical discussion
Recommended bibliography and reading references
Seminar Topics:
Seminar 1
The Unconscious
Freud and Lacan
“The unconscious is structured like a language”
The unconscious and speech
Clinical implications
Seminar 2
The Subject
The divided subject
Subject versus ego
Alienation and separation
The subject of the unconscious
Seminar 3
Desire
Desire versus demand and need
Desire and lack
The desire of the Other
Desire in the clinic
Seminar 4
Jouissance
Pleasure and jouissance
Excess and repetition
Symptom and suffering
Contemporary forms of jouissance
Seminar 5
The Other
The symbolic Other
The Other and language
Recognition and authority
The lack in the Other
Seminar 6
The Mirror Stage
Ego formation
Identification
Aggressivity and narcissism
Imaginary relations
Seminar 7
The Symbolic, Imaginary, and Real
The three registers
Clinical distinctions
Structural implications
The Real in contemporary psychopathology
Seminar 8
Fantasy
Fundamental fantasy
Fantasy and desire
Fantasy in symptoms and relationships
Traversing fantasy
Seminar 9
The Symptom
Symptom as formation of the unconscious
Symptom and enjoyment
Contemporary symptoms
Analytic listening
Seminar 10
Anxiety
Anxiety without an object
Anxiety and desire
Clinical manifestations
Anxiety in contemporary subjects
Seminar 11
Transference
Love and transference
The subject supposed to know
Resistance and transference
Transference in clinical practice
Seminar 12
Repetition
Repetition beyond pleasure
Repetition and trauma
The compulsion to repeat
Clinical repetition
Seminar 13
Lack
Lack and subjectivity
Castration
Structural absence
Desire and lack
Seminar 14
The Phallus
Symbolic function
Difference and sexuation
Phallic signification
Clinical misunderstandings
Seminar 15
Object a
Cause of desire
Partial object
Voice, gaze, and object relations
Clinical applications
Seminar 16
Demand
Demand and love
Demand versus desire
Infantile origins
Clinical listening to demand
Seminar 17
Psychosis
Foreclosure
The Name-of-the-Father
Delusion and stabilization
Lacanian diagnosis
Seminar 18
Neurosis
Hysteria and obsession
Desire and defense
Neurotic structures
Clinical distinctions
Seminar 19
Perversion
Structure and law
Fetishism
Disavowal
Clinical perspectives
Seminar 20
Interpretation
Analytic intervention
Interpretation and equivocation
Silence and punctuation
Ethics of psychoanalytic practice
Clinical Orientation:
The seminar series is grounded in a Lacanian clinical orientation that emphasizes listening to
the unconscious through speech, language, and the subjective formations that emerge
within the analytic encounter. Central attention is given to structural diagnosis,
transference, desire, symptom formation, and the ethics of psychoanalytic practice, with a
focus on how these concepts inform clinical listening, interpretation, and therapeutic
intervention.
Particular emphasis is placed on the relevance of Lacanian theory within contemporary
clinical practice and modern forms of psychological suffering. The seminars aim to help
clinicians develop greater conceptual precision and a deeper understanding of the
subjective, relational, and unconscious dimensions that shape psychopathology, treatment
processes, and the clinical encounter itself.
Intended Audience:
The series is designed for:
Psychologists
Psychoanalysts
Psychotherapists
Psychiatrists
Mental health professionals
Medical doctors
Individuals seeking greater self-awareness
Facilitator:
Petros Patounas
Lacanian psychoanalyst and author, with over 20 years of clinical experience in
psychoanalysis, supervision, and the teaching of Lacanian theory and clinical practice.
Concluding Perspective:
This seminar series offers clinicians a rigorous and clinically grounded introduction to
fundamental Lacanian concepts and their relevance for contemporary psychoanalytic
practice.
Through the systematic study of Lacanian terms, participants develop a deeper
understanding of subjectivity, psychopathology, transference, desire, and the unconscious,
while strengthening their capacity for analytic listening, interpretation, and clinical
formulation.
Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between theory and clinical practice,
allowing participants to approach clinical material with greater conceptual precision and
structural understanding. The seminars aim not only to clarify central Lacanian concepts,
but also to create a reflective clinical space in which practitioners can reconsider
contemporary forms of suffering, symptom formation, and the ethical dimensions of
psychoanalytic work.
By engaging with Lacanian theory in a clinically oriented and accessible manner, participants
are invited to deepen their psychoanalytic thinking while expanding their capacity to work
with complexity, ambiguity, and the subjective realities encountered in contemporary
therapeutic practice.