Within the depth-psychology corpus, ‘Lack’ operates across several distinct but often intersecting registers. In Lacanian psychoanalysis it names a structural condition: the subject is constituted by want, and the phallus as privileged object in the field of the Other symbolises precisely what the Other lacks in order to achieve wholeness — a formulation that grounds desire itself in an irreducible absence. This ontological reading stands in productive tension with the object-relations and attachment traditions, where lack is a developmental and relational wound: Bowlby’s extensive clinical documentation demonstrates how the absence of a sufficiently present caregiver produces disordered mourning, inhibited grieving, and pathological detachment across the lifespan. Fordham and the London Jungians extend this into a developmental deficit model, where lack of empathic ‘fit’ between infant and mother triggers defences of the self rather than healthy deintegration. In the astrological-psychological register of Arroyo, elemental lacks in a natal chart predict characteristic psychological imbalances requiring compensatory attention. The Neoplatonic and Gnostic streams, represented by Plotinus and Jung’s alchemical writings, treat lack as a metaphysical condition — the soul’s deprivation of the Forming-Idea through immersion in matter. What unites these otherwise disparate treatments is a shared recognition that lack is generative: it motivates, structures, and in certain formulations, even constitutes the subject.
the little o is the 0 - J> minus phi, o = 0 . In others words it is from this angle that the © (phi) comes to symbolise what is lacking to the 0 in order to be the noetic 0, the 0 in full exercise
Lacan argues that the phallus as object functions precisely to symbolise what is structurally lacking to the Other, making lack a constitutive feature of desire and the subject’s relation to the big Other.
, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book VIII: Transference, 2015thesis
These come into play when there is a lack of a sufficiently empathic ‘fit’ between baby and mother so that the usual deintegrative processes do not flow fre
Fordham’s developmental model identifies lack of empathic attunement between infant and mother as the precipitating condition that activates defences of the self, blocking normal psychological growth.
, Jung and the Post-Jungians, 1985thesis
compelled by necessity, departed with suffering from the Pleroma into the darkness and empty spaces of the void. Separated from the light of the Pleroma, she was without form or figure, like an untimely birth, because s
Jung’s reading of the Gnostic Sophia-Achamoth presents lack as a cosmological and psychic condition — the soul severed from its source exists without form, providing an archetypal image of deprivation and exile from wholeness.
, Alchemical Studies, 1967thesis
without making political and other-related concerns ends in themselves, one will lack not only justice but also true courage, true moderation, true generosity, greatness of soul, conviviality, and so forth.
Nussbaum, following Aristotle, argues that relational lack is totalising — the absence of proper other-directed concern produces a cascading deficit across all virtues, not merely one.
, The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy, 1986thesis
it is touched with Unmeasure, it is shut out from the Forming-Idea that orders and brings to measure, and this because it is merged into a body made of Matter.
Plotinus identifies lack as the soul’s privation of the Forming-Idea through entanglement with matter, producing moral and cognitive disorder — a Neoplatonic framing of lack as ontological deprivation.
, The Six Enneads, 270supporting
the lack of azdos against which Apollo threatens memeszs (24. 53) is not only a lack of compunction for Hector, but a lack of regard for the normal limits of human conduct; Achilles’ behaviour is not simply inconsiderate, it is unnatural and futile
Cairns demonstrates how lack of aidōs in Homer is treated not merely as a personal failing but as a transgression of the fundamental limits structuring human social existence.
, Aidos: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature, 1993supporting
although one may lack earth sign emphasis in his chart, strong aspects with Saturn can in many ways off-set the problematical side of this imbalance.
Arroyo treats elemental lack in the natal chart as a psychological imbalance with compensatory dynamics, suggesting that deficit in one domain may be partially offset by other chart factors.
, Astrology, Psychology, and the Four Elements: An Energy Approach to Astrology and Its Use in the Counseling Arts, 1975supporting
No longer is he allowed to communicate his sorrows or his hopes. As a result he retreats into himself standing alone in a corner, still attempting to reassure himself by the flickering movements of his hands and lips but wearing ‘an absolutely tragic expression on his face’.
Bowlby illustrates how enforced suppression of mourning — the prohibition of action in response to lack — transforms natural sorrow into pathological detachment.
, Loss: Sadness and Depression (Attachment and Loss, Volume III), 1980supporting
her prolonged inability to cry or to experience any longing for her mother her inappropriate bouts of euphoria her subsequent depression, totally disconnected in her mind from the bereavement she had suffered
Bowlby presents a case in which the absence of conscious grieving following parental loss constitutes a pathological variant of mourning, demonstrating how lack of felt acknowledgment of loss produces downstream psychiatric symptoms.
, Loss: Sadness and Depression (Attachment and Loss, Volume III), 1980supporting
Ares’ lack of restraint is attributed to a lack of both moos (mind, understanding) and ards… Just as Antinous is condemned for his l
Cairns traces the co-occurrence of cognitive lack and moral lack in Homer, showing that deficiency in understanding (nous) and in aidōs tend to be structurally paired.
, Aidos: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek Literature, 1993supporting
the lack of definitive answers on brain/mind matters is not a cause for despair… The lack of precise and comprehensive explanations does not indicate an impasse.
Damasio reframes epistemic lack — the absence of definitive brain-mind explanations — not as failure but as a condition of ongoing scientific inquiry, a methodological aside on tolerable incompleteness.
, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, 1994aside
lack of anxiety about all things, forbearance, lack of self-esteem, disinterest in glory, simplicity of soul
The Philokalia enumerates certain lacks — of anxiety, of self-esteem, of glory-seeking — as positive spiritual virtues, inverting the usual negative valence of deficiency within an ascetic theological framework.
, The Philokalia, Volume 4, 1995aside