Course: "Understanding Psychosis and Autism Through a Lacanian Lens". Instructed by Alireza Taheri

Understanding Psychosis and Autism Through a Lacanian Lens

Instructor: Alireza Taheri

Summer 2022

Course Description

This course introduces the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan with a focus on his immense contributions to the understanding of psychosis and, through the labour of contemporary, that of autism. As Lacan’s work is notorious for being impenetrable, the aim of this course will be to help students find their way in the maze of his conceptual apparatus in order to gain a clearer understanding of questions of aetiology, diagnosis and treatment. The course will be of interest to academics interested in broadening their theoretical grasp of Lacan, clinicians (psychologists, psychiatrist, psychotherapists, social workers and so on) in private practice or within larger institutions as well as members of the larger population intellectually curious to learn more about Lacan.

How to Register

• To register please send an email (subject heading: “Lacan on Psychosis”) to taheri_alireza@hotmail.com with:

o Full name.

o Country and city of residence.

o A brief statement on your reasons for taking the course and a few words about yourself would be appreciated but are not necessary.

• Make a payment of $350 CDN (+ applicable taxes) by email transfer or PayPal to taheri_alireza@hotmail.com:

o If you reside in Ontario please pay: $350 + 13% = $395.50

o If you reside in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island please pay: $350 + 15% = $402.50

o If you reside in any of the other provinces or territories please pay: $350 + 5% = $367.50

o If you reside outside Canada, please pay $350.

• You will then receive a receipt for your payment.

Further Details

• The course will be in Farsi.

• There will be 10 sessions at a frequency of one session per week.

• Duration of a session: 1.5 hours.

• Time and day: Tuesdays at 7:00am to 8:30am (eastern time – Toronto time).

• Dates:

o July 12th, 2022.

o July 19th, 2022.

o July 26th, 2022.

o August 2nd, 2022.

o August 9th, 2022.

o August 30th, 2022.

o September 6th, 2022.

o September 13th, 2022.

o September 20th, 2022.

o September 27th, 2022.

Topics that will be considered

• Aetiology of psychosis and the name-of-the-father.

• The various diagnostic categories of psychosis:

o Schizophrenia.

o Paranoia.

o Melancholia.

o Manic-Depressive Psychosis.

o Autism.

• The treatment of psychosis in private practice and clinical Institution.

• Psychoanalytic topology.

• The function of the name in psychosis.

Biography

Alireza Taheri wrote his doctoral dissertation on Nietzsche, Freud and Lacan at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor John Forrester (dissertation examiners: Professor Renata Salecl and Professor Raymond Geuss). Presently, he does psychoanalytic work in private practice in Toronto where he is also actively involved in teaching Lacanian theory. Alireza is a permanent faculty member of HamAva Psychoanalytic Institute in Iran where he teaches psychoanalytic theory and practice. He is also engaged in writing articles on psychoanalysis and philosophy and is presently the book review editor of Psychoanalytic Discourse (an independent international journal for the clinical, theoretical and cultural discussion of psychoanalysis). In 2021, Alireza published a book (entitled Hegelian-Lacanian Variations on Late Modernity: Spectre of Madness) that considered various connections on the interstice of philosophy and psychoanalysis in an attempt to provide a theoretical/dialectical framework for understanding certain impasses of our contemporary late modern condition. The focus of Alireza’s current research is contemporary Lacanian developments of psychosis and autism.