Lacan's theory of identity posits an act of violence as the originary
moment of one's identity. At first, the infant (i.e. one "without
language" -- infans) finds its identity solely in the person of the
mother but then becomes separated from the mother when it begins to learn
language, or the Name-of-the-Father. This is the Oedipal complex
translated via the theory of linguistics, such that the unconscious is
defined by Lacan as "that memory space created by human language in
compensation for separation from the mother and reinforced at behest of
the father" (Ragland-Sullivan 57). The
separation from the mother is represented by what Lacan calls "symbolic
castration" and is a necessary feature of psychological health.
For the psychotic in Lacan's theory, this separation, this act of
violence, never occurs. "If the psychic separation in childhood is
nebulous -- the father's Name not symbolized -- individuals can still
manage
in the adult world as long as they imitate normative father/son or
father/daughter Imaginary models. Psychotic episodes occur when the
intrinsic lack of this key phallic signifier -- the Name-of-the-Father
-- is
challenged within the Symbolic order. The confrontation topples the
mental house of cards supporting the subject's identity"
(Ragland-Sullivan 198-99).
