Scott Alexander (reading by Solenoid Entity / Astral Codex Ten podcast host)

The therapist says maybe that means he's stuck and wants his therapist's approval.

Upon hearing this, Roger immediately goes insane.

Fink's commentary.

By being confronted with the fact that his dream has a meaning, Roger was forced to reckon with language and symbolism.

But as a psychotic person, he can't do these things.

The relationship of symbol, meaning, and person who is figuring out the meaning is a triad too close to mother, child, and father.

And he lacks the father part of the triad.

His flimsy, fake ego falls apart.

Later, another therapist carefully avoids making Roger confront symbolism, and he does fine thereafter.

Patients can also get psychosis if their father is present and strong, but such a jerk that they refuse to identify with or listen to him.

In this case, quote, the child may assume a feminine position in relation to the domineering monstrous father.

Such male psychotics are the most likely patients to attempt sex change operations, end quote.

I surveyed a couple of cis men and trans women I knew about their fathers and needless to say there was nothing even remotely resembling this pattern.

Perversion is when someone's father doesn't give them the paternal function very effectively, but they manage to shore it up themselves.

In Lacanian diagnosis, pervert doesn't necessarily involve creepy sexual fetishes, although it does correlate with them pretty often.

Fink tries to sidestep this by claiming that End quote.

Fink thinks that masochists are, by punishing themselves, trying to sort of ritually enact the law being applied to them.

Quote, The masochist uses his own desire to push a father substitute to legislate and enact punishment.

End quote.

The sadist tries to ritually enact the law applied to someone else, who they then identify with.