@article { , title = {A spoonful of sugar: Medication and the psychoanalytic body}, abstract = {© 2020, Springer Nature Limited. This article employs a Lacanian framework to re-visit the vexed relationship between psychoanalysis and medication, which, it is claimed, also pertains to debates about the status of the psychoanalytic body. Whilst acknowledging the importance of critiques of ‘Big Pharma’, the article makes the case for a different approach. It argues both that ‘medication’ can be considered as a (dominant) discourse that extends well beyond the taking of pills, and, relatedly, that the psychoanalytic clinic reveals the ways in which subjects can make use of medication in often creative and productive ways. It does so partly via a brief clinical vignette and partly through a reflection on the issues raised in an article by the French Lacanian psychoanalyst Éric Laurent, which posits four libidinal modes of medication: the pharmakon, the placebo, the ‘surplus of life’ and anaesthetics. Overall, the article argues that while psychoanalysts must not work for ‘Big Pharma’, they can support the uses to which some subjects put the products of ‘Big Pharma’.}, doi = {10.1057/s41282-019-00146-4}, eissn = {1543-3390}, issn = {1088-0763}, journal = {Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society}, note = {Once published, add set statement to Additional Information: “This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [insert complete citation information here, including DOI] is available online at: [insert URL here]”]}, pages = {135–154}, publicationstatus = {Published}, publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan}, url = {https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2784241}, volume = {25}, keyword = {Arts & Humanities - Other/Miscellaneous, Centre for Critical Theory, Global Research Theme - Health and Wellbeing, Jacques Lacan, Medication, Addiction, ‘Big Pharma’, Éric Laurent, the Body}, year = {2020}, author = {Wright, Colin} }