THE CUTTING OFF OF THE BIG OTHER AS A CONDITION OF POSSIBILITY FOR SUBJECTIVE CONSTITUTION AND MENTAL HEALTH

Abstract

This article investigates the severing of the Big Other as a condition of possibility for subjective constitution and for a psychoanalytic conception of mental health. A qualitative, theoretical-conceptual study was conducted, combining exegesis of primary texts by Freud and Lacan with an integrative review of commentators, according to criteria of thematic relevance, editorial rigor, and source triangulation. It reconstructs that the severing, as a symbolic operation, bars the Other (S(Ⱥ)), introduces lack, and separates demand and desire; its logical form is symbolic castration, formalized by the paternal metaphor and the Name-of-the-Father. It also shows that the binding of RSI registers depends on this operator, under penalty of imaginary inflation, normative hypertrophy, or invasion of the real; when the binding falters, the sinthome can function as a fourth stabilizing link. Clinically, the cut guides the direction of treatment: scoring, variable session length, and misinterpretations aim to dilute meaning, favor the downfall of the supposedly knowledgeable subject, and sustain singular inventions of ties to jouissance. It follows that mental health, from this perspective, is not the elimination of symptoms, but the ability to endure lack, name desire, and invent ethical and viable connections in the realm of the Other. It also implies technical prudence and ethical responsibility in clinical practice.