Introduction to the school of thought

Description of the School of Psychoanalytic Practice

I. Introduction to the School

The School of Psychoanalytic Practice and Knowledge (Ecole psychanalytique du Savoir-y-faire) was formally established at the “Establishment Ceremony of the School of Psychoanalytic Practice and Knowledge (EPS) and the 4th Guangzhou Sino-French Symposium on Psychoanalysis” held from 24th to 27th October 2019, and it is the Guangzhou Mental Health Association under the organisation temporarily does not have the legal personality of social groups.

EPS is a self-organised and self-regulated group of professionals, with Lacanian analysts from France and psychoanalysis, counselling and psychotherapy practitioners from all over the country as the backbone; it is committed to promoting the development and dissemination of psychoanalytic discourse in China; and it seeks to add to the cause of China’s mental health by providing necessary help to the professionals, interested parties and people in need.

There are now 8 departments: Teaching Group, Clinical Group, Compilation Group, Publicity Group, Membership Group, Cartel Group, Publicity Group, and Secretarial Group.

Second, the existing affairs of the school briefly

1. Lacanian Theory Teaching

Since January 2020, the School has been offering courses on the teaching of psychoanalytic theory in two semesters each year.

The main teaching staff are (in alphabetical order):

Quiet Master’s degree in clinical psychoanalysis and psychopathology for children and adolescents at the University of Paris in progress, trainee psychologist at the Centre de psychologie des enfants et des adolescentes at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne, and at the Hospital specialisé psicologique de la Météorologie de Erasmus. Counsellor II.
Chen Jinprong University teacher, PhD in Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology, University of Paris VII.
Lucy FONG Psychoanalyst practising in Paris, Master in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris VIII, Master in Clinical Psychology, University of Rennes II.
Gao Jie Psychoanalytic Practitioner, Master in Applied Psychology, Sichuan University, Master in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris VIII.
He Yifei Psychoanalytic Practitioner, M.A. in Psychoanalysis from Sichuan University, M.A. in Psychoanalysis from University of Paris VIII.
Ju Rui Practising psychoanalyst in Paris, MA in psychoanalysis orientation from Sichuan University, MA in psychoanalysis from Paris VII, PhD in psychoanalysis from Paris VII.
Li Xinyu Psychoanalyst.
Liu Yang Young psychoanalyst.
Luo Guilian M.A. in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris VII.
Pan Heng Psychoanalyst, French EPFCL Association, PhD in Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry, University of Paris VII, Psychoanalytic Therapist, Department of Clinical Psychology, Guangzhou Huiai Hospital.
Tan Yuchen Psychoanalytic Practitioner, M.A. in Psychoanalysis from Sichuan University, M.A. in Psychoanalysis and Interdisciplinary Studies from University of Paris VII, Ph.D. in Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry from University of Paris VII in progress.
Chenxi Wang Run Psychoanalytic Practitioner, PhD in Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology at the University of Paris VII, Master in Psychoanalysis at the University of Paris VII, Babillo Receptionist.
Xuelian Wang Master in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris VII, PhD in Psychiatry, University of Paris VII.
Zhangzhang Wu Psychoanalytic practitioner, M.A. in Psychoanalysis at Sichuan University, M.A. in Psychoanalysis at Paris VIII.
Yajun Xu M.A. in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris VIII, one of the initiators of the art project “The Society of One”, engaged in research on psychoanalysis and contemporary China.
Yi-Wen Yu M.A., Institute of Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP), London, Ph.D. in Psychoanalysis and French Philosophy, South China Normal University-Kyoto University joint training.
Yu Shengzhou Doctor of Philosophy.
Yuan Mengdie Psychoanalytic Practitioner, M.A. in Psychoanalysis, Sichuan University, M.A. in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris VIII, in progress.
Zhang Tao M.A. in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris 8, Ph.D. in Psychoanalysis, University of Paris 8.
Luc Faucher Psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, director of the psychoanalysis department of the Hôpital Saint-Anne in Paris.
Mathias Gorog (Mathias Gorog) Member of the French Forum of Lacanian Fields, child psychiatrist, Director of the Adolescent Department of the Hôpital Saint-Anne in Paris.

Some of the courses are listed below:

First half of 2020:

Basic seminar: Freud and Lacanian words;

Thematic Seminar: Reading the Lacanian Discourse II (The Ego in Freudian Theory and Psychoanalytic Techniques) on;

Thematic Seminars: women’s issues; temporality in Lacanian theory.

Second half of 2020:

Foundation Seminar: the Freudian and Lacanian lexicon;

Topical Seminar: reading Lacanian Discourse II (The Self in Freudian Theory and Psychoanalytic Technique) on; Topical Seminar: reading Lacanian Discourse I (Freud’s Theory of Technique) on;

Thematic Seminars: Hypochondriac Seminar; Women’s Issues; Anti-Philosophy and Pushing the Limits – A Critique of Lacan’s Ethics of Desire; Introduction to Phenomenal Psychiatry (above).

First half of 2021:

Basic Seminar: the Freudian and Lacanian lexicon;

Thematic Seminar: reading under Lacanian Discourse II (The Ego in Freudian Theory and Psychoanalytic Technique); Thematic Seminar: reading under Lacanian Discourse I (Freud’s Theory of Technique);

Thematic Seminars: psychoanalysis of children and adolescents – from object to subject; female sexuality, female hedonism and the sacramental in the space of the female subject; introduction to phenomenal psychiatry (under).

Second half of 2021:

Basic Seminar: the Freudian and Lacanian lexicon;

Thematic Seminar: reading Lacanian Discourse III (Psychosis) on;

Thematic Seminar: five key issues in the structure of obsessive-compulsive disorder; the technique and art of interpretation (above); Philosophy and Psychoanalysis – An Anti-Oedipus Study (above); Selected Readings from the Collected Writings of Lacan, The Meaning of the Phallus; Psychoanalysis and Psychosis – Two inextricably linked fields (above); Adolescence and its diversions.

First half of 2022:

Basic Seminar: Freud and Lacanian words;

Thematic Seminar: Reading Lacanian Discourse III (“Psychosis”) in;

Thematic Seminars: Philosophy and Psychoanalysis – The Anti-Oedipus Study (below); Technique and Art of Interpretation (below); The Clinic of Dreams; Child Psychoanalysis; Psychoanalysis and Psychosis – Two Inextricable Fields (below); Adolescents and their Divergences;

2. Translation of Psychoanalytic Theory

Existing Chinese translators of psychoanalysis are mostly psychological researchers and foreign language scholars, and due to the lack of theoretical background and analytical experience, the translations are mostly biased. Against this background, the School established a compilation group-editorial committee structure at its inception, aiming to provide Chinese readers with reliable Chinese translations of psychoanalytic works from a psychoanalytic standpoint, thereby promoting the discourse of psychoanalysis and giving some impetus to mental health education.

At present, almost all of the income of the School comes from “theoretical teaching”, and apart from paying for the teaching staff’s classroom fees, most of it is invested in the translation business: translator’s remuneration, royalties, distribution fees, etc. The current contracted works are as follows.

The works under contract are as follows: works “in publication” have been submitted to publishers and will be released soon; works “in translation” have been contracted with publishers, and the titles listed here are all about to be submitted.

1. Joël Dor, Clinical Lacan (in press), Guangxi Normal University Press, Translated by Wu Zhangzhang.

2. Bruce Fink, The Basis of Freudian Technique (in press), Shanghai Social Science Publishing House, translated by Liguo Ban.
3. Bruce Fink, A Clinical Introduction to Lacan (in press), Shanghai Social Science Press, Translated by Zhang Hui-Qiang
4. Bruce Fink, Fundamentals of Lacanian Clinical Techniques (in press), Shanghai Social Science Press, Translated by Zhang Huiqiang.
5. Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (in translation), Oriental Publishing Centre, Translator: Wu Zhangzhang
6. Sigmund Freud, Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis + History of the Psychoanalytic Movement + Outline of Psychoanalysis (in translation), Oriental Publishing Centre, Translator: He Yifei
7. Sigmund Freud, New Introduction to Psychoanalysis (in translation), Oriental Publishing Centre, Translator: Tan Yuchen
Darian Leader, The New Black: Mourning, Melancholy and Depression (in translation), translated by Julia Wang
Colette Soler, The Lacanians on Emotion (in translation), Guangxi Normal University Press, translated by Wu Zhangzhang

In addition to books, several articles on psychoanalysis in foreign languages have been published in Chinese translation on the WeChat public number of the “School of Psychoanalysis”.

3. Social Practice

In Lacan’s design of his own school, the pursuit of the application of psychoanalysis is also revealed. Following this design, the School of Psychoanalysis opened two practice bases in August 2020 in cooperation with Wujiang Prison in Guangdong Province and Kunming Yanzhi Psychological Consultation Company, and in November 2020 with Xiamen Parents and Children Reception Centre of Pine Cone House, and several other social organisations subsequently requested the School to co-operate with them in the opening of practice bases. Through the practice bases, the Scholars hope to use psychoanalytic theories and methods to provide convenience to people in need.

1. Wujiang Prison, Guangdong Province

Clinical and theoretical research work in the justice system is significant. Lacan’s own doctoral dissertation and the articles on the Papin sisters demonstrate the Lacanian interest in criminal psychology. The Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China Decree (No. 79) on Prison Education and Rehabilitation Work has clearly written an entry on “psychological correctional treatment”, which includes mental health education, psychological testing, psychological counselling, and treatment of mental illnesses.

After the establishment of the practice base in Wujiang Prison, Mr. Pan Heng from the School conducted two lectures on “Dichotomous Delusion”, “Aggressive and Jealous Behaviour” and a clinical demonstration for the officers.

Clinical demonstrations are an important part of the teaching of Lacanian psychoanalysis. The clinical demonstration in VJ Prison promoted the Lacanian approach to psychoanalytic diagnosis and intervention in view of the staff. The cadres who interface with the Hsinchu School are now working to promote psychoanalysis in the prison system in Guangdong Province.

It is reported that the prison system in Guangdong Province has issued a document expressing the importance of the psycho-correctional unit, which may be an opportunity for the practice base to further promote psychoanalysis clinically.

2. Kunming Words in Mind

Founded by several founding members of the Xingzhi School, Speech in Mind maintains close ties with local hospital psychiatry departments, clinical psychology departments, psychological service organisations and colleges and universities, providing theoretical teaching and clinical practice guidance for doctors, students and professionals.

This includes:

(1) Clinical apprenticeship, which unfolds in the form of spectator analyses, in which the trainees record what they hear in the work of the analyst and discuss it at the end of the case, in groups of four.

(2) Case seminars, in which cases are presented by different counsellors, and students who do not have a case can ask questions but cannot report cases. In addition, graduate students form book groups after class to study Lacanian psychoanalytic clinical works.

Through these activities, WJP attracts local students and professionals. Graduate students from Kunming Medical University and Yunnan Normal University in the direction of applied psychology and psychiatry, doctors from Kunming Honghui Hospital and Workers’ Hospital, as well as practitioners from local psychological organisations …… The number of professionals who are studying Lacanian theoretical knowledge and clinical practice in order to serve clients is increasing, and a small Lacanian ecosystem is gradually being formed. The Lacanian ecology is gradually being formed on a small scale.

3. Xiamen Pinecone House

Xiamen Pinecone House Parents and Children Reception Centre, established in May 2017, mainly receives children aged 0-3 years and their parents, and runs development groups for children aged 4-12 years, as well as support groups and public service salons for parents; it is invited by a local radio station to run a weekly fixed-time parenting column.

As a professional group, Scholastic provides psychoanalysis training, theory training, personal supervision, etc. for Pine Nut House.

At present, Pine Nut House has become the service provider of the local streets, and will provide developmental groups, parent-child groups, psychotherapy and other services for families and children in the local area in the form of government-purchased services.

4、Clinical Seminar

The School of Psychoanalytic Practice decided to launch a clinical seminar in 20218 to provide support from the Lacanian school for psychoanalytic, psychotherapeutic and counselling practitioners.

Based on the Lacanian “system of passage”, a clinical practitioner presents a case and narrates it to another colleague of comparable level of training (i.e. the ferryman). The ferryman then relays the case to the clinical seminar. Because this is done online, the two practitioners can communicate instantly and privately about problems encountered in the seminar. The outcome of the communication is also relayed by the ferryman. The privacy of the clinical practitioners was protected to the greatest extent possible. Eight analysts from the School Clinical Group decided to participate in the clinical seminar. They were randomised into four groups. As the seminars were 2/month, after four, the groups would be randomised again.

The clinical seminars are clinical training provided by the School of Psychoanalytic Practice, not supervision.

5. Cartel Groups

In early 2020, the School launched the “Cartel Group” format.

The “cartel” is a creative working mechanism proposed by Lacan in 1964 in response to the founding of his school, with the main aim of promoting the production of psychoanalytic ideas, the twisting of analytic experience with analytic knowledge, and the transmission of psychoanalytic discourse.

The “cartel” was a creative working mechanism proposed by Lacan in 1964 in response to the establishment of his school, with the main aim of promoting the production of psychoanalytic ideas, the twisting of analytic experience and analytic knowledge, and the transmission of psychoanalytic discourse.

In his 1964 empirical vision, Lacan suggested that a cartel needs to be formed by a minimum of three and a maximum of five people, with four being the most appropriate number. Then, in his formal definition of 1980, he specified that a coalition of four mutually chosen individuals around a “plus one” is the most stable structure for a cartel. Since then, the vast majority of cartels operating worldwide have followed the “4+1” structure, which is the basic reference for the operation of cartels in the School. The frequency of meetings and the pace of work of the cartel group are determined by the members themselves, who are named “cartelists” in the school.

The “plus one” is chosen and contacted by the cartel members themselves, and exists to ensure that the work of the group is directed towards its assigned goals, as well as to monitor the internal effects of the endeavour and facilitate its production. In addition, the Plus One is also connected to the school, as he is responsible for establishing communication between the cartel and the school, and he is the one who makes each cartelist declare the results of his work in the school.

The output of the cartel’s work must be the unique product of each individual, not the product of the collective. In other words, the output follows the principle of differentiation, whereby each person produces knowledge based on his or her own experience, rather than the principle of unity, whereby consensus is built around “absolute knowledge”.

The school organises quarterly ‘cartel learning days’ where cartelists share their unique products. The results can be viewed in the EPS-Psychoanalysis School of Knowledge personal space_beili_bilibili.

6. Outer Secrets Activities

The term “outer circle” is a Lacanian play on words, as opposed to “private”, in the sense that just as the centre of gravity of a circle lies outside of it, so the centre of gravity of many things, including psychoanalysis, lies outside of itself. With this terminology in mind, Lacanian psychoanalysts were very interested in interacting with people from all walks of life in order to draw from outside psychoanalysis.

Lacan himself was very close to people in other fields, and invited philosophers, mathematicians, doctors, linguists, and so on, to attend his own seminars, and took their opinions into account to develop his own teaching – which shows that Lacanian psychoanalytic theory is inherently very “external and confidential”. It is clear that Lacanian psychoanalytic theory is very “exoteric” in nature.

The School of Acts is a school of psychoanalysis that has been experimenting with all kinds of exoteric seminars since its inception, with guests including, but not limited to, psychoanalysts of other schools, writers, mathematicians, architects, behavioural artists, religious researchers, researchers of sexual minorities, ACG enthusiasts, painters, musicians, researchers of history, Chinese medicine practitioners, researchers of avant-garde art… …

Related activities can be viewed at EPS-Psychoanalytic School of Behaviour and Knowledge’s personal space_beep_bilibili.

7. Members’ Activities

Vision of the School

1、Transmit psychoanalytic discourse

The School hopes to transmit the discourse of psychoanalysis to a wide range of audiences, professionals and non-professionals.

1. Literature Translation

As mentioned in part II, point 2, although there have been a number of translations of the works of Freud, Lacan, and others in China, most of the translators did not come from the field of psychoanalysis, and the translations are far from psychoanalytic theories, to name but a few. On this premise, it can be said that reliable psychoanalytic literature in China is very scarce.

There are many counter-intuitive assertions in psychoanalysis, such as “infantile sexuality” and “polymorphic inversion”, but the texts are self-consistent. However, if one compares some of the existing translations and foreign editions from a psychoanalytic standpoint, it is not difficult to find that many of the translators, with their bias and ignorance of psychoanalysis, have translated sentences that are merely grammatical. Such texts inevitably make some of the assertions that are already counterintuitive seem absurd and obscure what is clear – readers who might have become advocates of psychoanalysis are turned off when they try to understand it.

Due to the scarcity of reliable literature, there is a lot of prejudice against psychoanalysis based on biased translations, and this prejudice and neglect has greatly limited the dissemination of psychoanalytic theory, resulting in psychoanalysis not being given the attention it deserves as a clinical technique and research method.

The position of the Xingzhi School is that “the text carries the way”, and that the translation of psychoanalytic literature is for the purpose of explaining the reasoning, not for creating reading barriers. Since the school is unable to give the general public who are interested in psychoanalysis the ability to read the meta-canon, it can at least gather a group of credible psychoanalytic practitioners to provide reliable Chinese translations of psychoanalytic literature for everyone.

2. Academic Conferences

At the end of October 2015, the first Sino-French Psychoanalytic Symposium was held at the Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, the first psychiatric hospital in China. At this conference, clinical demonstrations, crucial for the training of Lacanian psychoanalysts, were introduced for the first time. Two years later, at the 2017 Franco-Chinese Conference, the Clinical Psychology Department of the Hospital signed a cooperation agreement with the Psychoanalysis Inpatient Unit of the L’institut hospitalier de psychanalyse de Sainte Anne in Paris, France. At the Sino-French Conference in 2019, the Psychoanalysis Specialised Committee of the Guangzhou Mental Health Association (GZMHA) and the Execution and Knowledge School of Psychoanalysis (EPS) were formally established.

It can be seen that the EPS was established step by step on the basis of academic exchanges between Chinese and French psychoanalysis, and academics are the foundation of the school; on the other hand, the school was established in the framework of hospitals and mental health associations, and it has strong clinical attributes in addition to purely academic research.

Therefore, the School not only hopes to convey psychoanalysis to the general audience and potential audience through the translation of psychoanalytic literature, but also hopes to unite professionals in order to realise a virtuous circle combining clinical practice and theoretical research.

Unfortunately, the Sino-French Symposium on Psychoanalysis was suspended due to the epidemic. However, thanks to the development of the Internet, in November 2021, the Hsing-Chi School, the Guangzhou Mental Health Association, and the Department of Clinical Psychology of the Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University co-organised a “Nine Countries Psychoanalysis Symposium” on the Internet, which brought together psychoanalysts from Colombia, Turkey, Romania, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, and China. Psychoanalysts from Colombia, Turkey, Romania, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, and China gathered to discuss the psychiatric crises faced by people in our society today, as well as many classical clinical problems.

The Hsing-Chi School will continue to conduct national and international academic exchanges to provide practitioners with a platform for academic exchanges, so that they can more successfully deal with the psychological crises of visitors from all walks of life.

3. “Outer Secrets” Activities

See Part II, point 6.

If psychoanalysis will have a Chinese school of thought in the future, it will be born out of the hard work of Chinese people from all walks of life.

2. Teaching for the public good

At present, almost all the income of the School comes from the “Lacanian Theory Teaching”, the cost of which was initially 2,300 yuan (1,600 yuan for students) a semester, and is now 2,500 yuan (1,800 yuan for students) a semester. In addition to paying the instructors, the vast majority of the income is invested in the publication of books. This is a virtuous circle that the school hopes to see, where teaching provides funds for the output of academic materials and the output of academic materials feeds back the teaching.

Compared with the training courses of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in China, the cost of the School is extremely low. We do not want to turn away enthusiasts and people in difficulty with high prices, and make psychoanalytic knowledge the monopoly of some people. However, the cost is an objective threshold that will indeed make it beyond the reach of some of those who are in genuine need. Therefore the Scholastic Teaching Group set up a vision at the beginning of its establishment: one day it must realise the public welfare of teaching and convey psychoanalysis to the public in a free form. If more people have an understanding of psychoanalysis, they will be more likely to be aware of the difficulties encountered by themselves or those around them, and will know what to do when they need help.

3. Promoting psychoanalytic clinics

In the past, people would stay in one place for their whole life, and exile – uprooting from one’s home town – was a terrible punishment second only to the death penalty; speaking of inheritance, the crafts of the fathers were passed on to the children little by little; importance was attached to meritorious achievement, and the road of rushing to the exams went on even from a teenager to a grey head …… Nowadays, thousands of kilometres of population movement has been rare; occupation is no longer a career passed down from generation to generation, and it is not uncommon to change several jobs in a month; the year of advancement has been delineated according to the academic system, and under normal circumstances, each age group will have a corresponding identity ……

In recent times, the acceleration of society has become more and more obvious, but on an evolutionary scale, the human body and mind need a longer period of time to adapt to social changes. Therefore, more and more people need psychological intervention nowadays, and the pains they complain of may not be commonplace in the eyes of “normal” people, but to them, the pains are real.

From the feedback of the school’s practice bases and trainees, although each place attaches more importance to psychological intervention, it is relatively more favourable to cognitive behavioural therapy, Morita therapy, positive thinking, internal view, original art therapy and other schools, while psychoanalysis is a tributary instead. An important factor is that psychoanalysis takes time – time that modern people lack the most.

Slowing down is one way to cope with the acceleration. In the school’s vision, the first rule is to pass on the spiritual