La importancia de la (im)potencia.

Abstract

This paper analyses the case of Ignacio, a patient who attends psychological consultation due to periodic outbursts of anger in the workplace. The outcome of the sessions suggests that his sexual impotence is critical cause for the symptom. To Ignacio, the meaning of "being a man" is conveyed through a chain of signifiers permeated by a specific discourse of the big Other: the masculine imperative of power and enjoyment in the exercise of this power. His sexual impotence fractures his ability to fulfill this imperative: in his sexuality there is a non-power over which he has no control whatsoever, and with he identifies himself. Finally, this work details how the consultation is oriented towards the patient’s comprehension of his symptom and his learning on how tolerate the lack, in order to open the way to the articulation of a desire of his own by way of breaking of the signifying chain.