Is Psychological Health for Beginners an Example of Lacan’s Discourse of the Hysteric?

One question I’ve been grappling with lately is whether my project, Psychological Health for Beginners (PHfB), fits within Lacan’s idea of the discourse of the hysteric. If you’re unfamiliar with Lacan’s four discourses, they’re essentially frameworks for understanding how people relate to knowledge, authority, and desire. The hysteric’s discourse, in particular, is defined by relentless questioning—especially of authority, the “Master.” It’s a discourse of challenge and destabilization, and it refuses to settle for easy answers.

Sound familiar? It does to me. The more I think about it, the more I see how this project embodies the hysteric’s spirit.

The Hysteric: Questioning Authority

The hysteric doesn’t accept the status quo. Instead, they interrogate it, demanding truth from those in positions of power. For Lacan, this discourse was a way of exposing the cracks in systems of knowledge and authority—what he called the discourse of the Master. Unlike the Master, who seeks control and certainty, the hysteric highlights the limits of what we know, often provoking discomfort along the way.

With its nonlinear structure and refusal to present psychological health as a finalized or idealized concept, PHfB is an invitation to question—not just societal norms but also the frameworks we use to define well-being. In this sense, the project aligns with the hysteric’s critique of the “Master,” whether that Master is a self-help guru, a medical model, or an academic institution.

Lacan’s Relationship with the Hysteric

Interestingly, Lacan himself identified with the hysteric in many ways. He saw the hysteric’s questions as essential for uncovering truths that more rigid systems (like the discourse of the university) would rather suppress. In fact, he critiqued the university discourse for denying “the truth of the unconscious” in its pursuit of mastery and certainty.

But Lacan also distanced himself from the hysteric. Why? Because questioning, while vital, can become an endless loop. The hysteric demands answers but often resists finding them, perpetually circling authority without resolution. As a psychoanalyst, Lacan’s goal was to guide the hysteric toward transformation—to help them confront the unconscious truths their questioning unearthed and move beyond perpetual dissatisfaction.

Why Is Questioning “Effeminate”?

Here’s where it gets complicated—and androcentric. In Lacan’s framework, the hysteric’s questioning is often associated with the feminine, while the Master represents a masculine position of control and authority. This connection traces back to Freud’s association of hysteria with women, a bias that Lacan carried into his own theories.

For Lacan, the hysteric occupies a position of lack and desire, subverting the phallic order of certainty and mastery. But does this make questioning inherently “effeminate”? Not at all. It simply reflects the gendered metaphors baked into psychoanalytic theory. To me, the hysteric’s discourse isn’t about gender—it’s about the courage to challenge authority and embrace complexity.

How PHfB Moves Beyond Androcentrism

This is where I see Psychological Health for Beginners diverging from Lacan’s androcentric framing. Yes, the project shares the hysteric’s commitment to questioning and destabilizing authority. But it doesn’t stop there. Instead of portraying questioning as a symptom of lack or as inherently gendered, PHfB reclaims it as a universal force for growth and transformation.

The project’s rhizomatic structure—a nonlinear, multimedia hypertext—embodies this spirit. Like the postmodern and post-psychoanalytic theories of subjectivity it explores, PHfB resists hierarchy and definitive answers. It’s a platform for infinite (or rather, multiple) iterations and pathways, reflecting the messiness of both psychological health and human experience.

A Productive, Open-Ended Journey

By embracing the hysteric’s questioning without becoming trapped in it, PHfB offers a space for exploration, connection, and growth. It challenges not only the dominant discourses of psychological health but also the implicit hierarchies within psychoanalytic theory itself, including Lacan’s own androcentric biases.

So, is PHfB an example of Lacan’s discourse of the hysteric? I think it is—but it’s also something more. It’s a reimagining of the hysteric’s relentless inquiry as a productive, non-gendered force for rethinking what it means to live, connect, and thrive.

As always, I leave the final word to you, the reader. Explore the site, question its ideas, and see where the journey takes you. After all, psychological health—like this project—is for beginners.