The Insult in Psychosis

The effects of an insult are familiar to us: it upsets or even shocks the addressee, and most often hurts his feelings. Simply put, an insult never leaves one indifferent. Its goal is to touch some very sensitive, intimate spot. This is where the psychoanalytic reading of the insult becomes most interesting. After providing a general introduction to the problem of the injurious signifier, underlining its function of devaluing, the author examines its logic in psychosis, more specifically in the symptom of the hallucinatory insult. In addition, the question of the rejection of the signifier in the real and of jouissance are also discussed.