Based on Jacques Lacan’s original clinical structures, Warren-Groza Developmental Structure Theory, or Thresholds Theory (working name), expands on the Psychotic, Neurotic, and Perverse structures with Detached, Seminal, and additional theoretical structures. This framework attempts to unify a range of developmental and personality “disorders” into a linear developmental progression.
Developed by Mihai Groza and Tiffani Warren. Notes edited by Spencer Elliott.
Overview
| Stage | Structure | Preliminal | Liminal | Postliminal | Crisis (Symptom) | Mechanism | Function | Project | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preconscious | Big Other | Imaginary Mastery | Desire | ||||||
| Attachment-Identity (0 - 3 months) | Detached | Autistic | Histrionic (f) / Schizoid (m) | Borderline (f) / Antisocial (m) | Derealization | Splitting | Symbolic Phallus | Imaginary Phallus | Self-permanence, hope, theory of mind |
| Mirror (3 - 18 months) | Psychotic | Bipolar | Dissociative (f) / Narcissistic (m) | Paranoid (f) / Schizophrenic (m) | Depression | Foreclosure | Imaginary Phallus | Persona | Object permanence, trust |
| Labirynth (18 months - 3 years) | Neurotic | Avoidant | Phobic (f) / Stress (m) | Hysteric (f) / Obsessional (m) | Anxiety | Repression | Persona | Name-of-the-father | Will, courage |
| Dialectical (3 - 8 years) | Perverse | Dependent | Fetishistic (f) / Repentant (m) | Libertine (f) / Fundamentalist (m) | Jouissance | Disavowal | Name-of-the-father | Ego-ideal | Destiny, purpose, agency, transcendence |
| Genital (8 - 12 years) | Seminal | ? | Humility/Pride/Industry | ? | Boredom | Self-awareness/Self-denial | Imaginary Father | Objet petit a | Confidence, freedom |
| Individuation (12 - 20 years) | Sacral | Tolerance | Self-identity / Role-confusion | Independence | Ideology | Alienation | Objet petit a | Symbolic Phallus | Fidelity, autonomy, individuation |
| Instrumental (20 - 40 years) | ? | ? | Intimacy/Isolation | Generation/Self-fulfillment | Extimacy | Symbolic Phallus | Signifier of the barred other | Love, integration | |
| Middle Age (40 - 60 years) | ? | ? | Stagnation/Creativity | Unity/Inner conflict | ? | Care | |||
| Old Age (60 - 80 years) | ? | ? | Regret/Satisfaction | Playfulness/Judgement | ? | Reflection |