The symptom and the limits of neuroplasticity: a Lacanian psychoanalytic reading

Abstract

This article examines the paradigm of neuroplasticity from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, interrogating its conceptual and ethical limits. The central argument is that neuroplasticity, by operating with the promise of direct inscription in the nervous system without the mediation of speech, produces a foreclosure of the subject: the speaking subject is reduced to a passive receiver of biological modifications, with no consideration of its truth or jouissance. The article traces the historical development of the concept, examines the debate between neuroscience and psychoanalysis through authors such as Eric Kandel, Irving Kirsch, François Ansermet and Pierre Magistretti, and articulates the Lacanian distinction between neuronal inscription and the signifier. In conclusion, it discusses the clinical and ethical implications of this debate for contemporary psychoanalytic practice, including questions concerning autism, psychopharmacology and behavioral therapies.